BibleVersity

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them..." (Lk. 6: 1-6, ESV)    In these short six verses, Jesus outlines three areas of spiritual life: righteousness, giving, and praying. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of spiritual qualities. These were chosen by our LORD to teach a very important lesson in Christian living. What lesson is this? Knowing who your audience is. Notice how Jesus addresses each aspect. The issue is not the acts themselves. I doubt many people would argue that these are unimportant or irrelevant aspects of serving God. Righteousness should be an important (and growing) part of any Christian's life. Giving is the same, and so is prayer. Each of these qualities should be present and increasing in our lives. In addition, these things should certainly be seen by those around us. If we truly are the people of God, then these qualities should be evident to those around us. The problem is when we p...

"But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, "I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches." Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, "I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" - Acts 19: 13-15 (NASB)    One of the great problems we have in the church today is one the apostle Paul encountered early in the Christian church: head knowledge of Jesus without heart knowledge. Paul encountered these brothers while ministering in Ephesus.  Ephesus was the hub for all things political, philosophical, and spiritual. This was the location of the temple of Artemis, one of the "Seven Wonders of the World". These "sons of Sceva", as Luke refers to them, were sons of a Jewish Chief Priest. They witnessed Paul doing some amazing things "in the n...

"And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen." And the elders fell down and worshiped. "(Rev. 5:14, NASB)    Have you noticed yet in the Bible that in every instance of someone's vision of heaven we see worship happening? In Revelation chapter five John tells us that he sees the four living creatures, the twenty-four elders, the angels, "myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands" of folks, and "every created thing" singing about and worshiping. (v 11-14) This is not only the case with John's vision. We see the same in the visions of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Even Jacob's vision way back in Genesis 28 hints at this same occurrence. With all this worship taking place in heaven, what are we missing down here on earth?    We usually equate worship to singing, but worship is more. The word "worship", in the original Greek language ( προσκυνέω)  means to "prostrate oneself in homage."* It is an...

Over the years I have developed my own set of "rules" for studying and teaching the Word of God. They are not meant as substitutes for established sound exegetical guidelines ,  but are my own personal addendum that help guide my studies.     Rule #3: Faith is Essential.    Faith is the key element when it comes to salvation and spiritual life, and it is no different in bible study. Faith is not simply a part of the process, it’s the key. The Bible, to some degree, addresses logic and reasoning,  intelligence, philosophy, and science. In addition, having a grasp of these can greatly help in understanding various passages within the Bible. However  when it comes to interpreting the Word of God, these take a backseat to faith. It is not because that they contradict, although they sometimes do, but faith must always takes precedence. Paul wrote, " And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is ...

  And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. (Lk. 5:18, NASB)    One of my favorite Jesus stories is the healing of the paralytic as recorded in Luke 5. Here lies a man who is paralyzed, being carried by four of his friends to Jesus. Jesus heals the man but it was not because of the man's faith. No, his healing came as a result of the faith of his four friends, who happened to lower their paralyzed friend down through someone else's roof, right in front of Jesus, while He was teaching. It is a beautiful picture, and a great example of what the church should be. Furthermore, it contains all sorts of spiritual and life lessons for you and I today.    As I am reading this story again this morning, a thought occurs to me. While we do not know the extent of his paralysis or how long he has been this way, he had an obvious physical need, and has survived on the m...

Zacharias said to the angel, "How will I know this for certain?"...  (Lk. 1:19, NASB)    There are a number of similarities between Zachariah and Mary. Both had angelic visitors, both were encouraged, "Do not be afraid", and both were told about future events. Even more so, their responses were almost identical: "How will I know this for certain?", "How can this be...?". However, this is where their similarities end. Mary, when she questioned the angel, was comforted and answered rather specifically. Zachariah, on the other hand, was rebuked and left mute until after John's birth.  Why was God so unfair? I mean, both simply asked a question. Could the angel not just simply answer Zachariah in the same manner he did for Mary?    The answer is found when we look at the difference between the two individuals involved. Mary was a virgin. Although Scripture informs us that Mary was most certainly a virgin in regard to sexuality, here the ...