Faithful in Bible Study – A Summary from Adrian Rogers’ Podcast Sermon

2Timothy 2:15

Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing (rightly handling and skillfully teaching) the Word of Truth.

John 17:17

Sanctify them (purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself and make them holy) by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.

4 KEYS TO BIBLE STUDY

     1) YOU MUST RECEIVE THE SAVING AUTHOR OF THE BIBLE INTO YOUR HEART

           1Corinthians 2:14: But the natural nonspiritual man does not accept nor welcome nor admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; as he is incapable of knowing them (of progressively recognizing, understanding, becoming better acquainted with them) because they are                                                    spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated.

           2Corinthians 4:4:  For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers’ minds (that they should not discern the truth), preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the Image and Likeness of God.

           John 3:3: Jesus answered him I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that unless a person is born again (anew , from above), he cannot even see (know, be acquainted with, and experience) the kingdom of God.

    1A) ASK GOD TO TEACH YOU HIS WORD THROUGH PRAYER

               Psalm 19:12:  Blessed are You, O Lord, teach me your statues.

               Psalm 19:18:  Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law.

               Psalm 19:36:  Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to covetousness (robbery, sensuality, unworthy riches)

               Psalm 19:73:  Your hands have made me, cunningly fashioned and established me; give me understanding that I may learn Your commandments.

     2)  ACCEPT GOD AS THE SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE

                2Timothy 3:16:  Every scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose, and action).

                Matthew 4:4:  But He replied, It has been written, man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth out of the mouth of God.

                John 10:35:   So men are called gods (by the Law), men to whom God’s message came and the scripture cannot be set aside nor cancelled, nor broken, nor annulled.

     3)  RESOLVE A SERIOUS ANALYSIS OF THE BIBLE

               1Timothy 4:13:   Till I come, devote yourself to (public and private) reading, to exhortations (preaching and personal appeals), and to teaching and instilling doctrine.

                Psalm 119:72:  The law from Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

                1Corinthians 10:32:  Do not let yourselves be (hindrances by giving) an offence  to the Jews or Greeks or to the Church of God (do not lead others into sin by your mode of life).

     3A)  STUDY THE BIBLE WITH CONCENTRATION

                  a) Read it through.

                  b) Think it clear.

                  c) Write it down.

                  d) Pray it in.

                  e) Live it out.

                  f) Pass it on.

4) RESPOND WITH A STEADFAST APPLICATION OF THE BIBLE

           John 14:21:  The person who has My commandments and keeps them is one who really loves me, and whoever really loves me will be love by My Father, And I too will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him  (I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him).

          LIFE POINT:  Reading the bible gives you knowledge of God. Obeying the bible allows you to know God.

Breaking the Pride Inside

For those who ever doubted how faithful God is, here is proof of His faith.

For the past few weeks, I have been praying to the Lord to help me in breaking down my Pride and to teach me the meaning of Humility. Pride is the source of many other afflictions such as selfishness, greed, lust, and anger.

For many years, I had a high-minded and proud attitude about myself. I was never in the wrong, others around me were lazy, mean-spirited, and always trying to get by with doing as little as possible. I sought out my own vindications, revenge, and worked hard to always be right and to be shown as the shining star on top of the heap. This attitude only lead me into bitterness, the desire to isolate from the World, and to turn away from all that was Godly.

Since beginning my walk with God 3 years ago (with some breaks in-between for the old attitudes rearing their ugly heads) I have been blessed and healed by Him in so many ways. My stony heart has been replaced with a more tender one. My eyes have been opened to notice Others who are struggling in their lives, and compassion has begun to grow inside me for the first time since I was a child. I found myself treating people far more gently and with special care then I ever had. The more I talk to God and read his Word, the more I wanted to and this only increased my healing.

It was the beginning of 2013 that the Holy Spirit put on my heart that it was time to put down some of the old habits that were stunting my spiritual growth. When I found these habits (addictions) could not easily be put to rest, I began to seek God’s help and guidance with a vengeance. I began reading about humility, pride, and learning how the first is what we are to strive for in our spiritual walk. The earthly pride had to be broken in order to move forward in God’s plan for my life.

March 27, 2013:  I receive my written Performance Review from my Manager. It is a major blow to my pride to read that my endeavours over the past year are seen as below the minimum requirements expected of me in my position! I had felt that I was working at a pace far greater than I ever had, while thanking God each day and night for His Grace and strength that were allowing me to keep up to the demands that had been placed on me this year. Immediately, I felt sick to my stomach and my head swam with prideful thoughts about how wrong my Manager was.

Over the morning, I allowed the Word of God to speak to me and I tried my best to listen with my heart.

“Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, so that in due season He may exult you”.

“Do not be conformed to this World, but be transformed by the entire renewal of your mind”.

“Set your mind and keep it set on things above, and not on things of this Earth”.

While those thoughts did help to calm me down, and read over my Performance Review a 2nd time with a more open-mind, I still felt very sick to my stomach and thought of going home and taking the rest of the week off.

It was then placed on my heart that I should take a few moments and blog about this experience. As I have been writing, I have felt joy and contentment returning to my soul. Now my plan is to take a walk on my lunch break, and to send Praise and thanks to God for being faithful! I feel that if I trust this humbling experience and do all that I can to learn from it, it will send me to a newer level of spiritual victory that is far more important then what mankind has to say about me.

Praise God!

 

A Struggling Christian’s Review of Identity Thief

It was my suggestion that a friend and I attend the Saturday matinee of this movie. Believing it would be a silly, comedy-style film, I purchased the tickets ahead of time to ensure seating for the afternoon show.

It caused me to giggle in the beginning when the female character would persuade strangers to give important personal information over the telephone and then she would make credit cards in their name and go shopping! My giggles quickly subsided as the movie progressed. 😦

Once the victim of identity theft decided to pursue this woman and bring her to justice, the film went right down the tube into a world of vulgarity. Some examples of what I mean are:

1) Extreme violence (hitting someone in the face with a guitar), shooting people in the legs for the sheer laughter of it, total disregard for human life (woman being run over by a speeding car).

2) Extreme language that no one should be hearing let alone someone under the age of 18

3) Extreme sexuality that left little to the imagination

All of the above were presented in a manner to illicit laughter from the audience. Because it is just a movie, it left the impression that all things seen and heard were OK and just a part of life. I felt like I was witnessing the degradation of society by another notch, and feared what the next 10 years may bring for “entertainment”.

The Holy Spirit within me was grieved and told me to walk out of the theatre. There was no reason for me to be a spectator of such things. Given the positive things my spiritual walk with the Lord has brought me over the last few years, I was able to see the difference between the saved and unsaved of this World.  However, since I was with a friend I didn’t feel right to just walk out and leave him there alone.

Thank you all for allowing me to get this judgement off my chest. It has been bothering me and I wanted to get it out there.

God Bless!

UPDATE – Dealing with A New Year’s Funk

What a world of difference a few days can make when you spend time with the Lord. When you marinate in the presence of God, your heart becomes tender. When you give yourself totally and submit to the Lord, he takes your troubles upon himself.

After my last posting on January 2 when I was telling you about my New Year’s funk, all I could see was dark gray clouds and a long, flat road that stretched out endlessly ahead of me. I decided to push forward and make a point of speaking to God. I started by saying little prayers throughout the day and being thankful for the blessings I have been receiving. This open the door to communication with God and I found myself being able to say more to Him.

A few fully detailed confessions of my soul to the Lord followed by repentance, requests for forgiveness, and some studying of the Word has brought me to where I am today. There is a smile on my face wherever I go, there is a dance in my step as I go about my day, and I find people are drawn to me and want to talk to me. This feeling of peace surrounds me and I know my Lord is with me wherever I go.

What a world of difference a few days can make when you spend time with God!

Dealing with A New Year’s Funk

So the holiday celebrations have been long prepared for, lived out, and are now a part of my past. Now what?  I feel blah! Not excited about anything at this point and just living life moment by moment.

The brand New Year seems stretched out before me like a long, grey road with grey clouds covering the sky over it. 2013 looks like a nice, fun number in print. The foreboding harshness of 2012 and its apocalyptic nonsense gives birth to a year with new hopes, new dreams, and believed by many to induce a spiritual awakening for mankind. So, why does it feel so blah on this the 2nd day?

I work in a call centre support environment as part of my weekly routine. In general, I am here to help callers with various issues they are experiencing with their assigned work equipment. I’ve been doing this for 14 years as one day is pretty much the same as the next. Today, when someone calls me, my initial instinct is to get their issue resolved in the shortest possible amount of time and to go back to my own agenda. Already today, this has not been possible on several occasions and I have had to push forward with gentleness, patience, and try to maintain a good atttitude. My flesh is not liking it one bit and I think that may be why I am challenged today.

However, I did find that the more time I was spending helping someone else, the more my spirits seemed to grow a bit lighter, and the darkness and cloudiness of my perspective was less severe?  Is this the answer coming to me from the angels above; to press on helping others and keep on doing it over and over until I smile??

If anyone else out there is experiencing the same or would like to just share their thoughts, please do so 🙂

 

 

 

In HIM – The Lessons of Ephesians 1-2

Ephesians 1 Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹PAUL, AN apostle (special messenger) of Christ Jesus (the Messiah), by the divine will (the purpose and the choice of God) to the saints (the consecrated, set-apart ones) ^[a]at Ephesus who are also faithful and loyal and steadfast in Christ Jesus:

²May grace (God’s unmerited favor) and spiritual peace [which means peace with God and harmony, unity, and undisturbedness] be yours from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

³May blessing (praise, laudation, and eulogy) be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual (given by the Holy Spirit) blessing in the heavenly realm!

⁴Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love.

⁵For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [^[b]because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]–

⁶[So that we might be] to the praise and the commendation of His glorious grace (favor and mercy), which He so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

⁷In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses), in accordance with the riches and the generosity of His gracious favor,

⁸Which He lavished upon us in every kind of wisdom and understanding (practical insight and prudence),

⁹Making known to us the mystery (secret) of His will (of His plan, of His purpose). [And it is this:] In accordance with His good pleasure (His merciful intention) which He had previously purposed and set forth in ^[c]Him,

¹⁰[He planned] for the maturity of the times and the climax of the ages to unify all things and head them up and consummate them in Christ, [both] things in heaven and things on the earth.

¹¹In Him we also were made [God’s] heritage (portion) and we obtained an inheritance; for we had been foreordained (chosen and appointed beforehand) in accordance with His purpose, Who works out everything in agreement with the counsel and design of His [own] will,

¹²So that we who first hoped in Christ [who first put our confidence in Him have been destined and appointed to] live for the praise of His glory!

¹³In Him you also who have heard the Word of Truth, the glad tidings (Gospel) of your salvation, and have believed in and adhered to and relied on Him, were stamped with the seal of the long-promised Holy Spirit.

¹⁴That [Spirit] is the guarantee of our inheritance [the firstfruits, the pledge and foretaste, the down payment on our heritage], in anticipation of its full redemption and our acquiring [complete] possession of it–to the praise of His glory.

¹⁵For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints (the people of God),

¹⁶I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.

¹⁷[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him,

¹⁸By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones),

¹⁹And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength,

²⁰Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places],

²¹Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.

²²And He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal and supreme Head of the church [a headship exercised throughout the church],

²³Which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself].