Bible Study

1 Corinthians 1:18

[18] For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Acts 3:26

[26] God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

Romans 1:16-17

[16] For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. [17] For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

2 Thessalonians 2:10

[10] and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

Bring Your Wounds to Jesus

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.” 2 CORINTHIANS 1:3-5

 

PONDER THIS

A scar is a wound that has healed. The great testimony of our faith is not that we have faith to be healed, but that we have faith not to be healed and still serve God. We still have scars. We aren’t made perfect. But we love the Lord, and still serve Him. Joyce and I have a little baby in Heaven. His name is Philip. The very first verse that I read after Philip died was 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. We were wounded, and we still bear the scars.

But I’ve seen my precious wife, Joyce, use those scars so many times to say to another who’s lost a baby, “I know. I understand.” There’s something comforting about a person who bears the scars and has a testimony nobody else has. Bring your wounds to Jesus. Use your scars to point others to Him.

What are some of the scars of your life? How could you use those scars to point others to Jesus?

Who has shared their scars with you? How did their testimony impact you?

PRACTICE THIS

Share the testimony of how your scars point to Jesus. 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Children of a Singing God

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (Mark 14:26)

Can you hear Jesus singing?

Was he a bass or a tenor? Was there a down-home twang to his voice? Or was there an unwavering crystal pitch?

Did he close his eyes and sing to his Father? Or did he look into his disciples’ eyes and smile at their deep camaraderie?

Did he usually start the song? Or did Peter or James, or maybe Matthew, do it?

Oh, I can hardly wait to hear Jesus sing! I think the planets would be jolted out of orbit if he lifted his native voice in our universe. But we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken; so, Lord, go ahead, do it! Sing!

It could not be otherwise but that Christianity be a singing faith. The founder sang. He learned to sing from his Father. Surely they have been singing together from all eternity. Don’t you think so? Would not infinite eternal happiness in the fellowship of the Trinity sing?

The Bible says the aim of our singing is “to raise sounds of joy” (1 Chronicles 15:16). No one in the universe has more joy than God. He is infinitely joyful. He has rejoiced from eternity in the panorama of his own perfections reflected perfectly in the deity of his Son.

God’s joy is unimaginably powerful. He is God. When he speaks, galaxies come into being. And when he sings for joy, more energy is released than exists in all the matter and motion of the universe.

If he appointed song for us to release our heart’s delight in him, is this not because he also knows the joy of releasing his own heart’s delight in his own image in his Son by his Spirit in song? We are a singing people because we are the children of a singing God.

John Piper 

Bible Study

Isaiah 51:12-13

    [12] “I, I am he who comforts you;

        who are you that you are afraid of man who dies,

        of the son of man who is made like grass, 

    [13] and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker,

        who stretched out the heavens

        and laid the foundations of the earth,

    and you fear continually all the day

        because of the wrath of the oppressor,

    when he sets himself to destroy?

        And where is the wrath of the oppressor?

Isaiah 66:14

    [14] You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;

        your bones shall flourish like the grass;

    and the hand of the LORD shall be known to his servants,

        and he shall show his indignation against his enemies.

Colossians 1:24

[24] Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

2 Corinthians 7:4

[4] I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.

A Savior Instead of A Sedative

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

JOHN 16:33

 

PONDER THIS

When we have an infection, we need to feel pain because the pain makes us aware of the problem. In the same way, the pain of life tells us about the infection of sin and points us to our Savior. But we have a world that doesn’t want a Savior. It wants a sedative. That’s the reason many get on recreational drugs: They don’t want to have to face the pain of life. An alcoholic tries to drown his problems. But those problems can swim. He can’t drown them. They come back to him again and again. Perhaps the biggest sedative of all is a screen. Amuse means “not to think.” But the pain is there to tell us that something is wrong.

We don’t need a sedative; we need a Savior. When we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, He doesn’t give us a sedative, He gives us joy. And joy is not there to remove the pain; joy is there to help us until the last trace of sin is removed from this Universe. When sin is gone, there’ll be no more sorrow, no more tears, and no more pain. But until that time, we need pain.

What are some painful things you have encountered in life? How have you sought to cope with them?

What escape tactics do you use when you don’t want to face the pain of life? How has that affected you?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for someone going through a tough time. Remind that person that Jesus is always available to walk through the pain with His followers.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

You Were Made for God

“For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.” (1 Samuel 12:22)

The name of God often refers to his reputation, his fame, his renown. This is the way we use the word “name” when we say someone is making a name for himself. Or we sometimes say, that’s a “name” brand. We mean a brand with a big reputation. This is what I think Samuel means in 1 Samuel 12:22 when he says that God made Israel a people “for himself” and that he would not cast Israel off “for his great name’s sake.”

This way of thinking about God’s zeal for his name is confirmed in many other passages.

For example, in Jeremiah 13:11 God describes Israel as a waistcloth, or belt, with which God chose to highlight his glory, even though there were times when Israel was temporarily unfit. “For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.” Why was Israel chosen and made the garment of God? That it might be a “name, a praise, and a glory.”

The words “praise” and “glory” in this context tell us that “name” means “fame” or “renown” or “reputation.” God chose Israel so that the people would make a reputation for him. God says in Isaiah 43:21 that Israel is “the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.”

And when the church came to see itself in the New Testament as the true Israel, Peter described God’s purpose for us like this: “You are a chosen race . . . that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

In other words, Israel and the church are chosen by God to make a name for him in the world. This is why we pray first and foremost, “Hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:9). This is why we pray, “Lead us in paths of righteousness for your name’s sake” (see Psalm 23:3).

When we speak of being a God-centered people, remember, this is because we are joining God in his God-centeredness. And on this side of the cross, that means being a Christ-dependent, Christ-exalting people. “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake” (1 John 2:12). “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).

John Piper 

Bible Study

Revelation 12:11

[11] And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

Colossians 3:15

[15] And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

1 John 4:4

[4] Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

1 John 5:4-5

[4] For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. [5] Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?