Posts tagged "Bible Study"

5 Minutes Bible Study – Praying When Life Unravels

PRAYING WHEN LIFE UNRAVELS by Dr. Harold Sala
Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. Luke 22:42

How do you pray when your world is falling apart? Or do you stop praying and decide that God has ignored you or forgotten that you exist? I’ve been thinking about that very issue as I’ve answered some of the letters which have come to our office from people who are really hurting, but more than that, they have all but given up on God because they prayed for something, like winning the lottery, and it didn’t happen. Some, even, have contemplated suicide because the financial blessing they asked for didn’t materialize, or the burden of poor health wasn’t lifted.

Yes, you can dismiss the frustration of people who think about giving up when their world comes unraveled, but that doesn’t eliminate the pain or the loneliness which people feel.

Have we who are in positions of Christian leadership, failed to make what the Bible says about prayer clear enough for people to grasp, or do people simply hear what they want to hear? Have we left the impression that prayer is like pulling the strings, so that if you say the right words and have the right formula, you can get anything you want from God?

In his book,Too Busy Not to Pray, Bill Hybels tells about a formula he borrowed from someone else to explain why some prayers are unanswered. He says, “If the request is wrong, God says, No. If the timing is wrong, God says, Slow.’ If you are wrong, God says, Grow, but if the request is right, the timing is right and you are right, God says, Go!’”

Prayer is based on a relationship of the child with the Father. Paul explained that God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who cries, Abba, Father! That plea which rises from the heart of God’s child is prayer! It is just that simple. Prayer is not demanding things from God, or ordering him to send the golden spoon of wealth as you strike a deal with Him, telling Him about all the wonderful things you will do for God and His kingdom as soon as you bank the blessing. Prayer is simply asking the Father in simple, child-like faith to meet us at the point of our need.

A loving Father answers our requests based upon His knowledge, which far surpasses ours, and His understanding of our need, which is much different from our perception of that need.

God does hear and answer the faintest plea of His child, but the answers are far deeper than our human understanding. Simply put, God answers four ways. 1. Some answers are direct. Seemingly, the request and the answer move along in parallel channels. That’s the way we like prayer. We ask and immediately receive what we’ve asked for. Frankly, God often gives those kinds of answers to new believers so they understand He is the Almighty and His power knows no limits.

Again, 2. Some answers are delayed. Here it is a matter of timing, and God answers on His timetable, not ours.

3. Some answers are disguised. We ask for something and then later, look back and recognize how God answered–but His answer was different from our request, and we recognize how much better was His answer.

4. Finally, some answers are denied. He loves you too much to give you everything you ask for. I’ve lived long enough to be able to look back and to say, “Thank you, Father, that you said No’ to some of my requests.” Father does know best, and you can trust Him for His best in your life.

Resource reading: John 17

Duration : 0:4:58

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Do your best: A study of the Greek word Spoudazo

[ See all our videos at http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=TruthOrTradition&view=videos ] Mike Patten of Spirit & Truth Fellowship International ( http://www.stfonline.org ) teaches on the Greek word “Spoudazo,” which means “Do Your Best.”

An Extensive Online Bible Study Guide

If you like what we are doing and you would like to help us continue to spread the Gospel all over the globe, please consider sowing into our ministry at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/donate

For further study go to: http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/guide

Watch an eight part series on Tools for Basic Bible Study
http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/tools

Duration : 0:9:53

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Are There Lost / Missing Books of the Bible?

[ See all our videos at http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=TruthOrTradition&view=videos ] * Watch this series under our playlists link or click this link * http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=DEF49BE0EDAAEAA9 John W. Schoenheit of Spirit & Truth Fellowship International ( http://www.stfonline.org ) teaches on Are There Any Lost / Missing Books of the Bible?

If you like what we are doing and you would like to help us continue to spread the Gospel all over the globe, please consider sowing into our ministry at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/donate

For further study see:

The Bible You Can Believe It (our free online book) at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/bible

We have many more teachings on the subject of Can We Trust the Bible at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/trust

Free online Bible Study Guide at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/guide

Video series on Tools for Basics Bible Study at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/tools

Duration : 0:10:31

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Couple Ordered to Stop Holding Bible Study at Home Without Permit

Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been told that they cannot invite friends to their San Diego, Calif. home for a Bible study — unless they are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to San Diego County.

“On Good Friday we had an employee from San Diego County come to our house, and inform us that the Bible study that we were having was a religious assembly, and in violation of the code in the county.” David Jones told FOX News.

“We told them this is not really a religious assembly — this is just a Bible study with friends. We have a meal, we pray, that was all,” Jones said.

A few days later, the couple received a written warning that cited “unlawful use of land,” ordering them to either “stop religious assembly or apply for a major use permit,” the couple’s attorney Dean Broyles told San Diego news station 10News.

But the major use permit could cost the Jones’ thousands of dollars just to have a few friends over.

For David and Mary Jones, it’s about more than a question of money.

“The government may not prohibit the free exercise of religion,” Broyles told FOX News. “I believe that our Founding Fathers would roll over in their grave if they saw that here in the year 2009, a pastor and his wife are being told that they cannot hold a simple Bible study in their own home.”

“The implications are great because its not only us thats involved,” Mary Jones said. “There are thousands and thousands of Bible studies that are held all across the country. What were interested in is setting a precedent here — before it goes any further — and that we have it settled for the future.”

Duration : 0:2:40

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The Voice of Women: A Biblical Study of 1 Corinthians 14:34,35 Should Women be Silent in the Church?

[ See all our videos at http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=TruthOrTradition&view=videos ] John Schoenheit of Spirit & Truth Fellowship International ( http://www.stfonline.org ) teaches on “The Voice of Women: A Biblical Study of 1 Corinthians 14:34 & 35.”

If you like what we are doing and you would like to help us continue to spread the Gospel all over the globe, please consider sowing into our ministry at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/donate

For further study see:

Should Women Really be Silent in the Church? A Biblical Study of 1 Corinthians 14:34 and 35 at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/silent

Listen to an in-depth audio teaching on this subject at http://www.stfpodcast.com/File/may2010_should_women_be_silent_in_the_church.mp3

Free online audio teachings related to Women in the Church at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/audio4

Read a research article on the role of women in the Church at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/role

Articles, audio and video teachings on Women at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/women

Healthy Submission at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/submission

A New Holy Spirit: The Power to be like Christ at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/power

Bible Study Guide at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/guide

Keys to Understanding the Bible at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/keys

Read our free online book, The Bible – You Can Believe It! at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/bible

Articles on our Gifts & Callings at http://www.TruthOrTradition.com/callings

Duration : 0:10:23

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Forty Bible Study Methods You Can Try

Discover 40 Bible study methods in one new book by Pastor Andy Deane: LEARN TO STUDY THE BIBLE (ISBN 9781607915768). Each method uses handwritten examples to help you learn visually. With such a great variety in choices for how you can study the Scriptures you’ll have unending excitement in God’s word each day. If your daily devotions need to be revamped then this new book is for you. Visit http://www.LearnToStudyTheBible.com to learn more. (Published by Xulon Press)

Duration : 0:1:33

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It Happend to Me Session 4- Gripped by the Sovereignty of God

http://store.walkintheword.com/p-1226-gripped-by-the-greatness-of-god.aspx Engage live with James MacDonald in a study with your small group or on your own through the book of Isaiah as you discover what makes God awesome, sovereign, holy, wondrous, and worthy of our worship.

Duration : 0:7:1

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5 Minutes Bible Study – The Sanctity Of Life And The Elderly And Weak Among Us

THE SANCTITY OF LIFE AND THE ELDERLY AND WEAK AMONG US by Dr. Harold Sala
Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come (Psalm 71:17-18

In the book Medical Ethics cardiologist Dr. Jay Hollman writes, Currently there are two predominating world views in the Western World. The secular world view refers to the view that leaves human beings as the final judge of all things and Biblical revelation as largely irrelevant. A serious Biblical view of ethics regards the Bible as a revelation from God and an important component of every ethical decision. As a cardiologist Dr. Hollman constantly faces the issue of How far should we go in sustaining life? If life is sacred, then our goal should be to preserve it, but if life is not sacred, then why should individuals who are genetically deformed, those born with brain injuries and who can never live outside an institution, receive care and support?

Frankly, thats what Adolph Hitler had in mind. He sought to terminate the lives of those who were less than normal, thus producing the master race. But Hitler was not alone in moving in that direction. In the United States by the year 1930, twenty-four states had laws requiring the sterilization of feeble minded individuals. Yes, those laws have been repealed, but the issue confronts us. When should life be sustained? And how far should we go in keeping individuals alive?

David, some 3000 years ago, contended that life was not a matter of random chance or happenstance. He was convinced that even before someone was born, God had a plan for his life that included his birth, the duration of his life, and even his death. These thoughts were embodied in Psalm 139, which is well worth your time to study. In verse 13 he wrote, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Paul, living a thousand years later, agreed. He wrote the Philippians and said that he wanted to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus laid hold of him (See Philippians 3:12, NKJV).

Luke, the physician who wrote more of the New Testament than even Paul, also agreed. He spoke of David, saying, For when David had served Gods purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep (Acts 13:36).

OK, heres the question. Does Gods purpose end for you when you have to retire, or when your health begins to decline, or when the cartilage in your knees wears out, or your heart gets tired and weary? If life is not sacred, then euthanasia becomes a plausible, if not acceptable, solution to the problem of sustaining the elderly. This, of course, would make a hero out of the suicide doctor, Jack Kevorkian, and a fool out of every doctor and every nurse who sweats bullets saving and sustaining the lives of our elderly.

Science today has enabled us to sustain the lives of people almost indefinitely, and my plea is not to sustain the suffering of people who have heard Gods call to come home and they cant because we have them on a ventilator, or a lung machine that keeps them alive—at least, clinically. There is a time to be born and a time to die, says the book of Ecclesiastes, and wise is the family who lets go when God calls.

Thats not the issue. Then what is? Today, we are facing a secularization which denies that you were made in the image of God, that sees life as void of spiritual ramifications and denies that there is moral accountability to God or anyone else, and when that happens the whole structure of society breaks down. We are seeing that collapse right now all around us, and a moral laryngitis seems to stifle the courage of those who are afraid to say, Enough is enough! and to stand where the courageous have stood for centuries.

Resource reading: Psalm 71

Duration : 0:4:58

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5 Minutes Bible Study – Signs Of The Times

SIGNS OF THE TIMES by Dr. Harold Sala
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 1 Thessalonians 5:1, KJV.

Certain individuals with claims to prophetic insights have always been quick to come up with a date for the second coming of Jesus Christ, and while Scripture says that Unto them who look for Him will He appear the second time. The question is, Are most of us oblivious as to what is really happening in our world?

There is one thing for sure. God doesnt want His children to be unaware, caught sleeping in relation to the circumstances pertaining to the return of His Son, nor does He want His own sleeping spiritually as that day approaches. On one occasion the religious leaders of his day—Pharisees and Sadduccees—came to Jesus to trick Him, asking Him for a sign. He didnt give them what they asked for but He said, When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red, and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times (Matthew 16:2,3).

There is another thing that must be acknowledged. God does have a timetable, and there are indications we are moving toward the end. When Paul wrote the Thessalonians, he said, Of the times and seasons, brother, I have no need to write to you, but if he were to send a letter to us today, he couldnt say that. Why? Because most of us dont have a clue. And thats an ignorance you can ill afford.

There are some criteria that you need to use in evaluating the signs of the times, and on todays commentary I have only enough time to give them to you, and hopefully well develop them later.

Question #1: Ask yourself, What are the present signs and are they local or global? Thats a fair question. The United States is not the center of the world, in spite of what some think. Are earthquakes taking place in greater frequency all over the world or just on the Pacific Rim? Is the power of the Euro a possible universal coinage for the entire world, or is the discussion of a totally new currency—one touted by both China and Russia and given tacit endorsement by the US President Barak Obama—the possibility described by John in the book of Revelation?

Question #2: Ask, Are these signs different from what we have seen before in the world? Almost every generation has seen some despicable world leader—from Nero to Henry Kissinger—as the Antichrist of prophecy. Corruption in leadership is abhorrent but not without precedent. Moral failure is inexcusable, yet a study of Gibbons Rise and Fall of Ancient Rome demonstrates that the Caesars werent exactly Sunday school boys either.

Question #3: Ask, Do what I consider to be signs of the times conform to clear statements of Scripture associated with the end times? This is the most important issue of all. What should be my ruler or my barometer to measure whats happening? Make a study of Daniel 7 and 8, Matthew 24 and 25, the book of 1 Thessalonians, and—yes, of course—the book of Revelation. Discount the doomsday prophet who quotes Scripture out of context or stands on an island of alleged truth all alone without the company of godly men who have spent a lifetime of conscientious study.

But be sure, those signs are there and they reflect the tremendous changes which the past century has brought—unprecedented and alarming changes. Scriptures allusions to the thief in the night demand vigilance and a preparedness that we must not neglect.

Resource reading: 2 Corinthians 7.

Duration : 0:4:58

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Paul Washer The Gospel of Jesus 1. Samuel Zwemer theological Seminary

Samuel Zwemer Theological seminary provides free courses. reading for this course is1: Desiring God by Pastor JohnPiper 2Manuel of theology by J L Dagg the piper book can be downloaded free at desiring God ministries.The Dagg book can be downloaded for free at Monergism web page.zwemer@hotmail.co.uk the seminary blog can be found on google at http://www.samuelzwemertheologicalseminary.com/

Duration : 0:10:3

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