All posts by AttilaDimedici

Daily Bible Study

November 7, 2016 Bible Study — The Good Shepherd

Leave a comment

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

dscn1033

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 10-11.

    I struggle with fully extracting the meaning from the parable of the Good Shepherd. There are several things which stand out. The first is that there are those who have striven to become religious leaders solely for their own benefit. We can recognize such leaders because they do not take people through Jesus to salvation. When someone tries to separate Jesus’ teachings from Jesus and His death and resurrection, we know that they are those Jesus referred to as thieves in this parable. The other thing is that Jesus’ true followers do not listen to such people. They recognize Jesus’ voice and are not led astray by such charlatans. There have been those who have come who have deceived true Christians for a time. However, if we continue to listen for Jesus’ voice such deception will soon fail. Jesus promises us that no one is able to snatch us from His hand. If we continue to listen for His voice He will guide us to safety.

Daily Bible Study

November 6, 2016 Bible Study — The Woman Caught In Adultery and the Truth Will Set You Free

Leave a comment

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

dscn0974

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 8-9.

    When Jesus spoke to the woman caught in adultery, He told her to go and sin no more. Many people note that He refused to condemn her, and that He got those who had accused her to back down. That is true and important, but they often fail to note that in doing so He did not accept her sin. He did not tell her to go an return to her sin. He did mot ignore the fact that she had sinned. No, He told her to go and sin no more. That should be our response to sinners as well, not condemnation, but the admonition to go and sin no more.

dscn1005

    One of Jesus’ statements which has struck a chord with people throughout history is, “the truth will set you free.” Most people are content to use just that phrase, a phrase which is true. In many ways this is like the way a lot of people use the story of the woman caught in adultery. They take the main point and strip it of the context which gives it meaning. In the case of the woman caught in adultery, if you strip away Jesus’ acknowledgement of her sin and His admonishment to leave that sin behind, His failure to condemn her His refusal to condemn her loses its meaning.
    In the same way, if we do not pay attention to what Jesus says before He says that the truth will set us free, we lose something very important, because Jesus tells us that we WILL know the truth. And the most important part of this teaching is that He tells us HOW we will come to know the truth. The key to that entire statement is that He tells us that we will know the truth if we remain faithful to His teachings. It is by remaining faithful to His teachings that we learn the truth, that we learn to distinguish the truth from the many falsehoods and deceptions in the world around us. It does us no good to know that the truth will set us free if we do not know how to learn and recognize the truth.

Daily Bible Study

November 5, 2016 Bible Study — Will We Believe The Miracles We See?

Leave a comment

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

dscn0958

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 6-7.

    There is something I never noticed in this passage before (although, now that I think about it, I believe that I vaguely remember one or more speakers pointing it out). The morning after the feeding of the 5,000, the crowd realized that Jesus was not there, and that He had not left with His disciples on the only boat. A large number of them then crossed the Sea on boats which arrived that morning. When they got to the other side, they discovered Jesus had arrived there before them. Then when Jesus, in response to their request to know what they should do in order to do God’s works, told them to believe in Him, they asked Him to perform a miraculous work.
    This tells us a lot about human nature. These people had witnessed Jesus feed 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and two fish. They had even eaten some of that food. Which was followed up with Jesus, somehow, getting across the Sea of Galilee ahead of them without leaving the shore in a boat. All of this less the 24 hours before this. Yet, when asked to believe in Him, they wanted yet another miraculous sign. They had seen this miracle and that miracle, but it was not enough. For those who are seeking proof of God’s power, no amount of miracles are ever enough.

Daily Bible Study

November 4, 2016 Bible Study

Leave a comment

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

dscn1105

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 4-5.

    When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, He went against social norms. It is worth noting that Jesus did not make this contact in the interest of outreach. He made this contact simply because He was thirsty. It never crossed Jesus’ mind that this woman was someone He should not talk to…and it should never cross ours. His willingness to interact with this woman, this outcast, just as part of a casual interaction led to the salvation of many.

dscn1106

    When the disciples returned to Jesus, He spoke to them of the harvest. He told them that the fields were ready for harvest. Now is the time to reap the harvest by bringing people the message that leads to eternal life. Jesus was clearly talking about the world around them and the people of the day. The same is true today. The fields are ripe for harvest and God is calling for workers who are willing to gather His harvest for Him.

Daily Bible Study

November 3, 2016 Bible Study — Being Cleansed of SIn

Leave a comment

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

dscn1075

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 1-3.

    I have several thoughts about today’s passage. I am not sure how many of them I am going to put into today’s blog yet. The first chapter of John puts the essence of the Incarnation into a few words. As humans we have a desire to put distance between ourselves and God. In a manner of speaking we still do what Adam and Eve did in the Garden after they first sinned. We try to hide from God. We seek to put something or someone between ourselves and God. The Incarnation is God trying to reclaim the relationship He had with Adam and Eve before they sinned. It is our constant struggle to accept that God wants us. It reminds me of the thoughts I have occasionally when I look at my wife, “She wants to be with me. She really wants to be with me. How absolutely amazing, this beautiful woman actually wants to be with me.” However, that thought with God is so much more amazing. God wants to be with us. He wants to be our friend and something much more than that. The first chapter of John explains both that this is true and gives a glimpse of how amazing it is that it is true.

dscn1079

    When Jesus speaks about being born again, He is telling us that we need to start over. We need to let the Holy Spirit transform us into innocent babes who have none of the smear and smudge which sin brings into our lives. The Christian message is about being cleansed from sin, but I think we rarely comprehend what that really means. Being cleansed of sin does not just mean being forgiven, or even just letting go of sin and not committing sins. It means all of the twists and distortions in our character that our the result of our sins, and of the sins of others, are washed away and we are returned to the innocence of childhood. If we allow the Holy Spirit to do so, He will clear away all of the debris which sin has left in our lives.

Daily Bible Study

November 2, 2016 Bible Study — Death and Resurrection

Leave a comment

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

dscn1047

Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 23-24.

    When Jesus was brought before Pilate for trial, Pilate could find no reason to crucify Him. However, because of the crowd threatening to riot he sentenced Jesus to death. This should be a warning to every political figure, and to us as ordinary citizens. When the crowd is crying for blood, it is usually innocent blood they are crying for. It is also worth noting that Pilate’s attempt to appease the crowd only served to rile them up more.

dscn1043

    When Jesus was hanging on the cross, those who had dismissed His many miracles pretended as if they would believe if only He performed one more and came down off of the cross. They were the sort of people who demand proof of God’s existence, yet have a reason to dismiss any that is offered them. The crowd which had come out to see the spectacle of a crucifixion went home disappointed.

dscn1169

    I think that Luke’s Gospel brings to the forefront of the strangeness of the Resurrection story. All of the accounts record that it was women who first discovered that Jesus had risen. Here Luke points out that the men, the Apostles, did not believe the women. They thought they were speaking nonsense when they told them what they had seen at the tomb. Even when the women recounted what the angels had told them, including the part about Jesus predicting this very thing, they were not believed. The two men who walked home to Emmaus were baffled, but did not believe that Jesus had risen. Again, even as Jesus showed them from Scripture what had happened they did not see. They could not believe that the women were right. If the story was made up, it would have been Peter, or one of the other prominent Apostles who discovered the empty tomb.

Daily Bible Study

November 1, 2016 Bible Study

Leave a comment

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

dscn1080

Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 21-22.

    I am not sure that today’s blog entry will have any continuity. As I read the passage there were several things which I wanted to comment on that are not connected in my thoughts. The passage begins with Jesus’ commentary on the widow’s offering. Entire sermons have been, rightfully, written on this three verse passage. We have no basis for taking any pride in our giving until our giving means we may miss a meal because we cannot afford it. Jesus is not saying that we should give to the extent which the widow did. However, His message throughout was that serving God should mean more to us than having food to eat.

dscn1083

    In discussing the coming trials and struggles which His followers will face Jesus warned us that people would appear claiming to be Him, or claiming to fulfill His role. He assured us that there will be no mistaking when He returns. Everyone will know. We will not need someone to tell us that Jesus has come back.
    This passage also contains Luke’s account of the Last Supper, which was the Passover Meal. Here Jesus says something to which I do not think we pay enough attention: ” For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.” A few years ago, the pastor of the congregation I was attending preached a sermon series on Passover, including the meaning of the meal. I can think of one or two other times in my life where the meaning of the Passover Meal was discussed. I have been as guilty of this as any. I do not think I have put much thought into the meaning of the Passover Meal, even when I am writing on the passages in the Bible where it was instituted.

Daily Bible Study

October 31, 2016 Bible Study — Seek And Save The Lost

Leave a comment

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

dscn1080

Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 19-20.

    The story of Zaccheaus is the perfect model of Christian outreach. First, Jesus did things which made Zaccheaus curious enough to look to see what was going on. Then Jesus reached out to Zaccheaus and treated him as a friend, not as a pariah. The people condemned Jesus for associating with someone as corrupt and evil as Zaccheaus. Jesus responded by indicating that He came to seek and save the lost. This is an important lesson for the outreach we conduct today. We are not called to make our congregations better than others so that people will change from those others to ours. We are called to seek those who have not yet come to know the Lord. This theme continues in Jesus clearing the Temple. Those selling animals for sacrifice had turned the courtyard of the Temple into a stockyard, making it inhospitable to worship by Gentiles, who were allowed no further into the Temple.

Daily Bible Study

October 30, 2016 Bible Study — Faith, Persistence, and Prayer

Leave a comment

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

dscn1087

Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 17-18.

    Right after telling His disciples that if they had faith like a mustard seed they could tell a tree to be uprooted and it would happen, He tells them that they should not expect to be praised for doing as He commands. If our faith is true we will do as God commands because it is our duty to do so, not because we expect to be rewarded for doing so. Looking at the connection which Jesus makes here between the impact of our having faith on doing God’s will gives me a new insight into the parable of the persistent widow. In that parable Jesus tells us to learn from the woman who got justice from an unjust judge because she was persistent. In the same way, we are to be persistent in our prayers. The thing which connects this to the earlier teaching about faith is that Jesus wraps up this teaching by asking how many He will find with faith when He returns. Do I have enough faith to be persistent in my prayers?

Daily Bible Study

October 29, 2016 Bible Study — Counting The Cost

Leave a comment

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

dscn1155

Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 14-16.

    In yesterday’s passage the leader of a synagogue where Jesus healed a woman reprimanded the woman, and the others present, for seeking healing on the Sabbath, saying that healing was prohibited because it was work. So, in today’s passage, Jesus asked the religious leaders who were present if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. I had not touched on it in yesterday’s passage, but the main thrust of Jesus’ teaching on this subject is that it is never wrong to do good for others. From there Jesus transitions to talking about puffing ourselves up. I see an important connection between what Jesus says here and His teachings about those who serve others being the greatest. If the most important question we ask when deciding whether or not to do something is “What’s in it for me?” we have failed at the most basic level to understand what Jesus taught.

dscn1166

    As followers of Christ, each and every one of us is called to obey the Great Commission. We are to go forth into the world and make disciples. However, sometimes in our eagerness to make new disciples we downplay the difficulty of being a follower of Jesus. Jesus tells us that it is important that we be aware of what it will cost us to be His follower. No one should be encouraged to start following Jesus without first knowing the trials and suffering which they will face as a result. Our eagerness to bring others to the Lord is not misplaced, as Jesus makes clear in the parables He tells in chapter 15. However, we must make sure that we do not convince people to follow Jesus under false pretenses. The cost of following Jesus is high, higher than most are willing to pay. We know the reward is worth it, but that is a decision which each person must make for themselves.