Both Jesus and the Apostle Paul give extraordinary importance to the giving of the Holy Spirit. Why? In this series we’ll look study a variety of passages with the goal of understanding who the Holy Spirit is and why he is something we need.
Should women wear head coverings today?
Should women cover their heads in church today? Why or why not? What does Paul mean by head? What does this passage add to the debate about women in authority in the church?
1 Corinthians: Pride & Prejudice in the church
No church in the New Testament is more like our modern churches than the Corinthian church.
Are there rewards in heaven?
Some claim that Scripture teaches believers will receive various crowns in heaven based on their works in this life. We look at two key themes Scripture teaches, and two main mistakes we can make in studying these passages.
1 John: Discerning the True Gospel
John wrote his first letter to clarify the differences between the genuine gospel as revealed by Jesus to the apostles and the heretical versions of the gospel spreading in the early church. He gives 2 guiding principles for recognizing genuine believers and false teachers.
2 Peter: How to find life
As his earthly life drew to a close, Peter wrote his second letter to encourage and admonish the churches. What truths did he think were so important that he had to make sure he wrote them down before he died?
Philemon: How to be a Hero
While philosophers often use this letter to talk about the evils of slavery and sometimes condemn Paul for not taking a strong stance against it, I think this letter has much more to say to us as individual believers about how we should live our daily lives.
What is the Gospel?
A friend once asked me if I was on an airplane that was about to crash and had only a couple minutes to use my cell phone to call my family, what would I say? What would I tell them if I knew this would be our last conversation on earth? At first my mind when blank, but then the answer seemed obvious: Hang on to your faith. But to understand why saving faith is that important, you have to really understand the gospel.
Isaiah: Servant Songs
Isaiah gives us the fullest revelation of Christ in the Old Testament, most notably the Servant Songs. The exile raised the question: Can fail such that God will abandon us and we forfeit His God? In the Servant Songs, God demonstrates that not only will He remain committed to His people, He will willingly choose to endure suffering in order to forgive and redeem His people.
Understanding God’s Will
If we accept that fact that God loves us enough to send his son Jesus Christ to die in our place and pay the penalty for our sins while we were his enemies, does it makes sense that God would hide his will from us now that we are his children? I would argue that the problem is not God hiding his will. The problem is the way we are looking for it.
Bible Study 201: Learn to teach the Bible
So you’d like to teach the Bible? How do you get started? How do you decide if Bible teaching is your calling? Here’s my advice for aspiring teachers.
Philippians: Choose Life
Paul’s letter to the Philippians is filled expressions of praise, joy and confidence, despite the fact that Paul wrote the letter while he was in prison. The Philippian church, unlike many other churches Paul wrote to, was not facing any particular problem or controversy. Instead their challenges were the kind that plague many churches today. We can learn from Paul how to rejoice and persevere in the mundane, ordinary difficulties of life.
Nehemiah: Restoration & Redemption
The message of Nehemiah is restoration. The book records how God moved Nehemiah to lead the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in approximately 446 BC. As the story unfolds, we see God restore godly leadership to Israel, restore the walls of Jerusalem, restore the broken faith of the people, restore a sense of community and heritage as God’s people, and restore the people’s knowledge of the God’s word and their desire to love and obey Him.
Bible Study 101: Learn to Study the Bible
Now is a great time to improve your Bible study skills. Follow this series to learn how to study the Bible, where to find the tools you need to study and how to use them.
Jeremiah: Questions Jeremiah Answered
The book of Jeremiah is about both political and personal crisis. Part of the message which the Lord told Jeremiah to deliver to the nation of Judah was that they were headed for the kind of disaster that no Israelite would ever believe God could allow to happen to His chosen people. And yet another part of the message God gave Jeremiah was that God was working in the midst of this unthinkable disaster to accomplish something wonderful.
