GoBible Lessons

Have you considered engaging in a serious sin? If so, you weighed the consequences: would you get caught? How serious would the punishment be? Even if you were not caught, how would it affect you? I recall one friend saying (about a serious sin) "If I do it God will forgive me." When it comes to sin, our primary concern is how it will affect us. This week we look at how our sins affected Jesus. God paid a terrible price for our sins. Let's plunge into our study of the Bible and take a close and personal look at what our sin did to our loving Savior!

Have you ever gone to a physician and found you don't understand a lot of what is being told to you? I had one specialist who would use all sorts of medical terms that I did not understand. I would stop him and make him explain his terms. In my law practice I work with employees whose religious beliefs conflict with some work requirement. The law requires the religious objector to let the employer (or union) know about the conflict. When these (generally Christian) employees write about their religious beliefs, I try to be alert to terms that are not understood by the general public. When I see these, I suggest to the employee that they substitute a term that the public understands. The Bible uses all sorts of terms to describe salvation. We learned the reason for many of them when we studied the Old Testament sanctuary service. This week we look more deeply into this subject. Let's dive right into our study of how the Bible describes our salvation!

We learned the last two weeks that Christianity is the "thinking person's religion." What we did not discuss was how hard we have to think! In one sense it is easy and logical to line up the Old Testament system for removing sin with the life, death, resurrection and heavenly ministry of Jesus. They just logically fit. On the other hand, it is not so easy to understand how the Creator God could demean Himself to become a human. Even the mechanics of the "God born of a woman" to create a God/human are very difficult to grasp. Let's give it a try by plunging into our Bible study!

Last week we learned that only Christianity, of the three major world religions which accept the Old Testament as the inspired word of God, fulfills and follows the Old Testament pattern for dealing with sin. That is history. What about today and the future? What does the Old Testament sacrificial system teach us about Jesus' current work, if any, on the problem of sin? What is Jesus doing for our sin? Or, is His work complete and He is currently enjoying retirement? Let's plunge into our study of the Bible and find out!

This past Sunday evening I was sitting on a bench overlooking the lake by my home. The quiet, beautiful evening turned my thoughts towards God and my place in His world. I thought about why it was I believed God existed, that Christianity was true and Jesus was the Messiah. Our lesson this week speaks to those issues. My reason for believing God exists is the order I see in the Creation. Owning cars and houses has taught me that things move from order to disorder, not the other way around. That God foretold the Messiah through the symbols of the Atonement shows His order. The three major world religions believe in the account of the sanctuary service, yet only Christianity can match it up to Jesus the Messiah. Only Christianity relies on these fulfilled symbols for the forgiveness of sins. Christianity is the logical, consistent, reasonable religion. Let's jump right into our study of the Bible to better understand this!

If you were God, what would you do when humans rejected you? Two weeks ago we studied how it was that Adam and Eve sinned and plunged us all into a terrible situation. Last week we looked at what God planned to do to throw a life-line to humans. This week we progress to God's announcement to humans of His great plan for disaster relief. How difficult a decision was this for God? Why would God announce in advance what He had in mind? Why not leave His options open? What does this show us (again) about the character of God? Let's dive into our study and learn more!

The last two weeks we studied how sin entered the universe and our world. This week we turn our attention to the first chapter of our escape from sin and eternal death. Why would God decide to redeem us? What began our way out of sin? We learned something in the last two weeks about how to avoid sin based on how sin entered the universe and the world. What can we learn about righteousness based on how God gave us a way out of sin? Let's dive into our study of the Bible and learn more about the thoughts of God!

There is an old saying: "You get one shot at the king; either you kill him or he kills you." Imagine the thinking of Satan: if you were given one opportunity to test the loyalty of Adam and Eve, wouldn't you bring your best argument, your best temptation? Everything was riding on that "one shot." I wonder if Adam and Eve gave as much thinking to their upcoming test? Let's jump into our lesson and consider how sin entered our world!

Many people ask "How could sin arise out of perfection?" Since I doubt I'll ever figure it out with my human brain, I prefer to ask "Why did sin arise in a perfect place?" If we figure that out, it might help us to be more alert to the sin problem in our life. The Bible gives us some strong clues as to the main reason why sin arose. What would you think if we learned that the root cause of the sin problem was not considered to be a serious sin today? Let's jump right into our study of the Bible and learn more!

Have you ever thought about how long God has been around? Just saying, "How long" implies a specific period of time. Can you imagine a God who has always been? There is much scientific evidence for the "Big Bang" theory of the origin of the universe. We can observe that the universe is uniformly expanding outward at a set rate of speed. Two logical conclusions flow from this. First, the universe had a creation point (the "bang"). Second, since the rate of expansion is perfectly timed, an Intelligence guided the "bang." If time was created when the universe was created, then the "Intelligence" exists in a realm outside of time. Let's dive into the Bible and see what it says on this subject!

Do you like change? Most people fear change because it brings uncertainty. Right now I'm adding change to my unchanged life. I've lived in the same house for over 25 years, but have rented a house in a new city and am slowly moving there. I've had the same employer for over 32 years, but now I spend half my time teaching in law school. For 28 years I have been a member of the same local church, but I'm slowly moving to the new church in the new city. I've been married to the same wife for 34 years and my goal is to make no changes there! Change creates anxiety. Being a missionary may require some change in your life. This week our lesson starts out with changing leadership, let's dive into our study of Isaiah!

How do you solve problems in the church? Is it with gifted plans or gifted people? If you had to choose, which would be more important? This week we study a man who was part of the solution to one of the most explosive problems in the early church. He apparently did well in his service to the church for God made him a powerful evangelist. Let's jump into our study of Philip and learn about the ideal life in service for God.

Have you ever thought that life, as you knew it, had come to an end? Those thoughts went through my mind early in the day on September 11, 2001, when I was in the Washington, D.C. area and the Pentagon was hit (we thought) with a bomb. Last year, I heard a young man from Rwanda tell his story of losing his family and fleeing his country as a result of the genocide there. This week we look at Daniel, a man whose life was turned up-side down by the Babylonian conquest of his country. It is one thing to try to convert others when all around you is normal. What about being a missionary when everything around you has changed? Let's plunge into the life of Daniel and find out!

Our culture does not allow us to understand the difficulty of being a "woman of mission" during Jesus' day. We do not even clearly understand the problem Jesus and His disciples faced ministering to women. The Jewish rabbis of Jesus' time said "It is better that the words of the Law be burned than be delivered to a woman!" (The Bible Exposition Commentary on Acts 16:13.) Jesus and His disciples, if they followed cultural norms, should have ignored women when it came to sharing the gospel. They did not. Instead, our study shows Jesus used them as missionaries. Let's plunge into our study of the Bible and learn more!

Last week we looked at Peter's "early years" in the ministry. His failure to understand the self-sacrificing nature of the gospel work ahead of him was replaced with an understanding of his true mission and the future glory which awaited him in heaven. What can we learn from a mature Peter? How does a mature Christian live? Or, is Peter not an example for us because he was given special authority not available to us? Let's dive into our study of the Bible and find out!

Can you think of a Christian who is not a very good witness for Jesus? I'm not referring to someone who only talks about being a Christian. I mean someone who is a serious Christian, but who does not have a very good sense of how to get along. The world calls the ability to relate to others "emotional intelligence," the Bible calls it "wisdom." Our study this week is about the apostle Peter who had a great deal of growing to do in the emotional intelligence department. Let's plunge into our study of the Bible and see what we can learn about Peter and improving our own emotional intelligence!

Is your heart at peace? At this moment I feel a very heavy load of things to do. Burdens press me at work and at home. I am always working to meet time deadlines. (Even to write this lesson each week.) Our lesson this week is for those whose hearts are not at peace. Jesus wants us, as His missionaries, to have peace in our hearts. He wants us to understand how our timing is not His timing. Let's plunge into the Bible and find the path to peace!

What kind of an attitude should we have as missionaries to the world? It would seem this is an easy question. The answer to is be kind and loving and share the gospel message, right? But, perhaps this issue is a bit more complex. When I was growing up, I learned about a problem in the church mission program. It seems that American missionaries had trouble realizing where their American culture left off and the gospel message began. To combat that potential problem, the suggestion was to have American missionaries go to foreign lands, train the locals in the gospel, and then let them push forward with American financial support. Imagine how those conceptions from my youth disappeared when I was approached this summer about having missionaries from Brazil and Europe come to my area to share the gospel. They were coming to share with English-speaking Americans! So much for the idea of leaving it to the natives. I was now the native! Our lesson is not about this specific issue, but it is about some of the complexities of how we approach our work as missionaries for Jesus. Let's jump right into our study of the Bible!