Tag Archives: 10/24/14 Bible Study

October 28, 2014 Bible Study — Obey Government Authority and Do What Is Good

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have been convicted over the last few weeks to seek to develop a disciplined prayer life. It is still a work in progress. Please pray for me, that the Holy Spirit may show me how to pray in a disciplined manner.

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Proverbs 26:18-19

    Someone who deceives their neighbor as a joke is like a madman randomly shooting into a crowd. The opportunity for causing harm is great, even if there is no intent to do so.

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Psalm 100:1-5

    We will all come before the Lord sooner or later. Let us do so now with singing and joy, rather than later, sullen and in fear. I will enter into the presence of God with thanksgiving and praise. Shout to the Lord.
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Titus 3:1-15

    We are to submit to government authority, even when it is a bad government. God calls us to be peaceable, considerate and gentle towards everyone. However, in the same sentence where Paul tells us to be obedient to the government and its agents he tells us to always be ready to do whatever is good. Here and elsewhere, Paul tells us that government authority is established by God and thus we should obey it. However, in telling us to always be ready to do whatever is good, he is spelling out the limits of government authority. The government does not have the authority to tell us to do that which God has told us not to do (which is anything which is not good).
    Paul reiterates a theme here which permeates all of his writing in one form or another. We were not, and are not, saved as a result of our righteous actions. However, we were, and are, saved in order that we may perform righteous acts. We are not capable of living righteous lives on our own. However, God wishes us to be righteous, so He freely redeemed us and gave us the Holy Spirit in order that we might become able to live righteous lives. It is when we recognize that it is only through the Holy Spirit working in us that we are able to behave in a righteous manner that we are able to accept the Holy Spirit working in us to do that which is righteous.

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Jeremiah 51:54-52:34

    The people of Judah and Jerusalem were convinced that God would protect them from all enemies, despite their refusal to follow His commands, until the day when He allowed the Babylonian army to destroy His Temple. This is a message for people of all generations. If we do not live according to God’s will, it is only a matter of time until death and destruction come upon us.

October 24, 2014 Bible Study

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have been convicted over the last few weeks to seek to develop a disciplined prayer life. It is still a work in progress. Please pray for me, that the Holy Spirit may show me how to pray in a disciplined manner.

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Proverbs 26:6-8

    Trusting a fool to deliver your messages will have a predictable outcome, and it is one that will be unpleasant. Proverbs can be useful shortcuts for learning, but a fool will use a proverb to avoid learning anything.
    We generally honour people in order to encourage others to emulate them. If you honour a fool it is likely people will emulate the foolish behavior rather than that which you intended.

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Psalm 94:1-23

    It may seem like God is taking His time in bringing the wicked to judgement. It may seem like God is not listening to the cries of the poor and oppressed. The wicked think that they can avoid suffering any consequences for killing widows, foreigners, and the fatherless. However, He who made our ears can surely hear, and how would He know to make eyes if He could not see?
    Those who accept God’s discipline and learn from His instruction will experience joy. He will give them relief in troubled times. God will cause to be established governments which make judgements based on justice. He will raise up virtuous people who will pursue justice. When we start to doubt, let us call out to God. Then He will support us and lift us up. Trust in God and turn to Him when evil seems triumphant. He will turn the sins of the evil against them.

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2 Timothy 2:22-3:17

    Paul tells us to stay away from foolish, ignorant arguments. They serve no purpose other than to start fights. This does not mean that we should stay away from all arguments, just foolish, ignorant ones. However, even with arguments we should get involved in we are to avoid being quarrelsome. Rather we should be king to everyone, able and willing to teach, and, most important for this context, patient with difficult people. Rather than argue forcefully and angrily, we should gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Let us rely on God to change the minds of those we disagree with, rather than trying to do so by the force of our arguments or personality. An important element of this is the willingness to allow God to change our minds if we are the ones in the wrong.
    Paul describes what people will be like in the last days. He sounds like he is describing what many people are like today (in context it sounds like he was describing the people of that day as well). People love only themselves and their money. He describes such people in detail telling us that they will act religious but reject the power of God which could actually make them godly. The important point is that we should stay away from such people. He warns us that such people worm their way into people’s homes and gain control over gullible women. Women who are vulnerable to such people are burdened with guilt and controlled by various desires. Paul describes such women as always willing to listen to new teaching, but never coming to an understanding of the truth. Those who prey on such women have depraved minds and a counterfeit faith. A little further on Paul points out an important characteristic of such teachers. They will go from bad to worse. Most importantly, they will both deceive others and be deceived themselves.
    It is worth repeating that those who work hard to deceive others about God’s truth are often easily deceived. This gives us an important lesson. When we are marshaling our arguments for the truth, check the facts we plan to use. If we allow ourselves to use “facts” which are not actually true, even if they support a true argument, we are setting ourselves up to be misled. We need to do our due diligence on the things we hear and confirm that they are true from sources who were either present when they happened or heard from someone who was there. If the story does not contain information which will allow you to check its veracity (where did it happen, when did it happen, who was there) do not use it in your arguments (except perhaps as an illustration of your point, rather than as support for your point).

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Jeremiah 44:24-47:7

    Jeremiah told the people of Judah who fled to Egypt that they could not worship both God and the “Queen of Heaven”. This whole exchange reminds me of many people today who call themselves “Christians”, yet read their horoscopes daily and follow other idolatrous practices. You have to choose if you are going to follow idolatrous practices, or if you are going to worship God. God will not accept divided loyalties. We need to examine our lives and root out all forms of idolatry.