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For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
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Don't Miss Out: Hit subscribe for a daily dose of Bible wisdom. Let's explore the Scriptures together, connect the dots, and uncover the major themes of redemption.
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Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
From the start of our journey together, we have been working for and looking forward to this point. One day, Jesus, our Savior, will return for us. One day, all things will be made new again in him. One day, there will be a new heaven and earth. One day, the sun, moon, and stars will be done away with and exchanged for the glory of Christ. One day, death will be overthrown. One day, every tear will be wiped away. One day, there will be no more sin. One day, there will never be hunger or thirst again. One day, the overcomers will stand in the presence of th living God. One day, we will behold our precious Jesus.
One day.
The End.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
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Don't Miss Out: Hit subscribe for a daily dose of Bible wisdom. Let's explore the Scriptures together, connect the dots, and uncover the major themes of redemption.
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Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
Many, even my friends, will disagree with me on my position concerning Jesus's 1,000-year reign. There are two main camps: Either the 1,000-year reign is a literal time period, or it is figurative. That seems pretty straightforward. I absolutely land in the "literal" camp.
For me, the description of the temple in Ezekiel is one of the sticking points for me. The things described in Ezekiel have yet to happen, and I just don't see them as figurative.
I also find it difficult to believe that, from the figurative perspective, Satan is currently bound and NOT deceiving the nations.
I have another dozen or so thoughts on the matter, but I have no interest in muddying the water and speaking about things that are too lofty for my tiny brain.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
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Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
Babylon is both a physical and spiritual enemy of the people of God throughout the Bible. In today's chapters, we see Babylon finally brought to nothing, but this is not the end of the story, for the one we call the Antichrist arises to power from this defeat of the queen of Babylon.
Again, I have a lot of pieces in my head and no deep understanding of them. Even as I write these words, I recognize that people have been excitedly waiting for me to teach on Revelation, and yet I have to disappoint in that my insight into this final book of the Bible is shallow at best. My friend told me when I was just 25 years old, "Don't go swimming in knee-deep water. Don't teach out of your depth." I have tried my best to keep those words in mind over these last nearly 25 years.
I do want to draw your attention again to the imagery of Babylon being cast down like a heavy stone into the sea. It is the same imagery that Jeremiah used in his writing. I hope that as we draw this year to a close you can see just how interconnected the Scriptures truly are.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
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Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
I have, for many years, been intrigued by the two witnesses. When I was about 18 years old, I read a Christian fiction book about the final days. I recognized then that the book was a work of imagination but also that it was inspired by Revelation. It was in that book, thirty years ago, that I first learned about the two witnesses. I've been curious about them ever since. I am comfortable saying that these two witnesses are symbolically revealed back in the book of Judges, and without a doubt, I see them in the book of Zechariah. Honestly, I want to understand Revelation much better than I do, and I'm confident that understanding Zechariah will be instrumental in that endeavor.
I don't have much to say about these chapters. My head swirls with thoughts. I find it interesting that there are so many people who seem so sure of how Revelation plays out and what all the symbols mean. I must confess, that I am not smart enought for that at this point in my life, so I will hold my tongue for now.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
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Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
I am not smart enough to give you any real insight into Revelation. I hope to know and understand it better in another decade, but today, I have told you all I have to tell you about it. I wish I could offer you some great epiphany or some earth-shaking truth, but I'm just not there.
I have friends who believe the seven seals, trumpets, and bowls are just three accounts of the same events. I still can't quite agree; they seem too different to me. But I'm certain they represent God's judgment on a rebellious world.
Of this, I am also certain that God is fair and just and will not treat the righteous and the wicked the same. In that, I find great comfort.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
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Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
In chapter four, we have the worship of God as he sits on his throne. In Chapter Five, we see the worship of the Son of God. It would be good for us to practice the worship of the Father and the Son now. It would behoove us to think highly of the Father and the Son and to think lowly enough of ourselves that we could find no better use of our tongue or time than that we worship God who provided salvation for us and that we worship Jesus through whom salvation was provided.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
Connect with Us:
Don't Miss Out: Hit subscribe for a daily dose of Bible wisdom. Let's explore the Scriptures together, connect the dots, and uncover the major themes of redemption.
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Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
I will say again that we often read Revelation as if it were a different type of writing than those prophetic books of the Old Testament. I have come to the place where I am wholly convinced that Revelation reads similarly to Isaiah, with both an immediate fulfillment and a future fulfillment. I tend to land in the place where these letters to the churches are more in the immediate days of John the Revelator and less about the future days of the church. I have quit trying to figure out whether or not the believers who gather with us on Sunday are comparable to the church in Ephesus, the one in Smyrna, or even Laodicea. I tend to read them now as letters written to true and existing churches across Asia rather than spiritual representations of churches. (though i'm not opposed to that possibiblity as well)
I love the formulaic language in the seven letters. Here is what I like or dislike, here is who I am, here is what the overcomers will gain. Poetry or prophecy these letters are beautiful. I also like the many references these letters make to previous Biblical texts. Again, we find that a good understanding of Scripture makes these letters come more into focus more clearly than before.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
Connect with Us:
Don't Miss Out: Hit subscribe for a daily dose of Bible wisdom. Let's explore the Scriptures together, connect the dots, and uncover the major themes of redemption.
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Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
False teachers, at least some of them, crept in unnoticed but were "long ago designated for this condemnation." They are ungodly. They pervert the grace of God. They deny the master Jesus. These people reject authority. They rely on their dreams. They blaspheme all they don't know. They are grumblers and malcontents. They follow their own desires and have mouths full of boasting.
Be alert and on guard against such people. Resist them, expose them, and, when possible, overthrow them.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
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Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
These two "books" are some of the shortest in the entire Bible. There isn't really anything in 2 John that we haven't already covered in First John. Third John seems to deal with an issue in the church and the wickedness of a certain brother. Both are from John the Apostle to specific members of the body. I read these letters and think perhaps my grandmother was right all along; letter writing is a lost art. Somehow, I don't think a text from John would have landed quite the same.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
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Don't Miss Out: Hit subscribe for a daily dose of Bible wisdom. Let's explore the Scriptures together, connect the dots, and uncover the major themes of redemption.
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For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
Connect with Us:
Don't Miss Out: Hit subscribe for a daily dose of Bible wisdom. Let's explore the Scriptures together, connect the dots, and uncover the major themes of redemption.
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Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
One key sign that someone is a person of faith is their love for the fellow believer. In fact, "We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers." Jesus says a similar thing in John 13 when he says, "By this, all men will know that you're my disciples, that you love one another." We see then that the way we love one another in the faith is one of the key indicators we are, in fact, people of faith.
The other major indicator of faith mentioned here in First John is what the individual says about Jesus. Remember, if you don't acknowledge the Son, you do not know the Father. What people often do is point to 1 John 2:3-4 and say, "By this, we know that we have come to know him, that we keep his commandments." And "Anyone who says 'I know him' but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him." People usually read these verses and interpret them to mean that we should obey the Ten Commandments or the Law of Moses. The problem with that line of thinking is that Paul directly contradicts it in Galatians and Romans. Furthermore, the context of 1 John supplies us with what it means to "obey the commandments." In Chapter Three, we read, "And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him." So we see that the commandments of God are that we believe in Jesus and that we love the brethren. Why we make it more difficult than that, I won't ever understand.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
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Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
I could probably write an entire book on what I think about First John, or even just these first two chapters. (Of course, then I'd be ignoring the context of the rest of the book and thereby contradicting the very counsel I've been giving you for the entire year.)
Let me point out just one of the very many things from this section of Scripture that is of the utmost importance. "No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also." this verse is absolutely essential. In our world today, we have people who insist on their belief in God but then will deny their need for Jesus. That simply can't stand. If you deny the Son [Jesus], you then, by extension, deny the Father [God] who sent him. If you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father, nor could you. That means the Jews, as a whole, who denied Jesus and facilitated his murder, at that moment, also fully denied the Father they claimed to know and worship. In John 8, Jesus says that they were all liars who did not know God. If they had known God, then they would have also known and loved Jesus. The fact they denied the King of Glory means they also denied God.
I'd be content to say the same thing another fifty times just so that it could not possibly escape our hearts, but let me offer you one more thought. When we are tempted to say of our dear friend or family member, "So and so really does believe in God. He/she really is a great person. They just don't believe in Jesus," let us clap our hand over our mouth. Let us not dare say that they can believe in God and deny the Son he sent. Let us hold such a high view of our Savior that we would say of anyone who denies Jesus, "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?"
Anyone who denies Jesus is a liar and has the spirit of the antichrist, and there is no other conclusion we could rightly come to.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
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Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
False teachers were a recurring problem in the first-century church. It would seem that there were as many, if not more, false teachers than faithful ones. Growing up in church, as you do in West Texas, I heard about false teachers only on occasion and only in the Bible stories. By college, I would occasionally hear someone throw around the term "false teacher" to describe this radical preacher or that one. But even then, false teachers seemed to be a rare occurrence.
Now, with a few decades of ministry behind me and more thoughtful consideration of texts like this one and the one we will see in Jude, I find myself believing that false teachers are a bigger problem than most churches seem to acknowledge. (I often wonder if it is because many of those churches have false teachers at the helm, but we can discuss that another time)
In the days of Paul, false teachers often, if not always, fell into the category of people who were teaching the works of the law as necessary for salvation or righteousness. Preaching Christ Jesus PLUS circumcision wasn't just a poor teaching but a damnable one. I wonder if Paul would consider the teaching of today that intermingles the works of law along with faith in the doctrine of false teachers. I don't know how he could arrive at any other conclusion. What if much of what we call "weak" or "powerless" preaching is truly an abomination?
Thankfully, I don't have to hand down judgment as to whether a teaching is faithful or unfaithful. For "If God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; he knows how to keep the unrighteousness under punishment until the day of judgment." And that is a terrifying thing.
We should be considerably more cautious in who we listen to and who we set before us as shepherds.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
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Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
I will always be amazed by the truth that "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence." Another translation says, "We have everything we need for life and godliness." How could that strike us as boring, dull, or unimportant? In Christ Jesus, we have EVERYTHING we need for life and godliness. According to his power and promises, by his glory and excellence. Yet people will still say to me, "I get it, but I'm only human after all." They shrug their shoulders and turn their dejected faces to the ground, settling for mediocrity rather than the glory of the fullness of God at work in their hearts. Maybe eventually, this truth will take hold of every Christian heart, and we will start to live according to the power of God at work within us. Until then, I will do my best to remind people who we are in Jesus.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
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Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
Suffering, for the believer of the first century, was a given. Suffering for the believer is still a reality for many of our fellow Christians around the world today. Most of us in the West will never face true suffering for our faith in Jesus. A letter on how to suffer well for Christ doesn't strike as close to our hearts as it would have the saints in the early days of the church or for those faithful followers of Jesus in closed and hostile countries today.
"But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them [ your persecutors], nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you."
Think about that for a moment. The saints who were being beaten, thrown in prison, and escorted off to death were to suffer well for the sake of Christ so that when those persecutors queried about the undying hope of the persecuted, they would be able to speak about their faith in Jesus.
Suffer so well that even the wicked who lead you off to death will want to know how you seem so profoundly hopeful.
And to think that we Western Christians get perturbed when the day doesn't quite go our way. If we seem so hopeless to the world when even the smallest things go wrong, how will we ever stand a chance to suffer well when our lives are on the line? And if we seem hopeless in the small things, we can be certain the wicked of the world will never inquire about our hope in the truly dark days because we will have completely abandoned all hope.
But those who have RIGHTLY set their minds on Jesus, recognize that "After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." So then we see that our hope is not in our present circumstances, but our future one.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
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Don't Miss Out: Hit subscribe for a daily dose of Bible wisdom. Let's explore the Scriptures together, connect the dots, and uncover the major themes of redemption.
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Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
There are several fantastic takeaways from today's reading:
First, the prophets of the Old Testament knew they were writing about the person of the Messiah, and they inquired of the Spirit of Christ about the days and times these things would be fulfilled. They also knew it would not take place in their days. These are wonderful truths to consider. We see that God, by his Spirit, had given insight to the prophets and that the prophets did not record the prophecies of Jesus without knowledge that they were doing so.
Second, at least a part of being holy as God is holy is that we set all of our hope on the grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of Christ. When we consider that the prophets wrote with eager expectation about the coming of Jesus, we see that it then shaped the way they lived their lives. We, too, setting our minds on the truth of Jesus, will find the fruitfulness of our lives shaped by that.
Third, the believers are being built up together as a spiritual house, as a holy priesthood, to present to God spiritual sacrifices.
Finally, we see that "by his stripes you have been healed" does not address physical healing but rather spiritual healing from sin.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
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Don't Miss Out: Hit subscribe for a daily dose of Bible wisdom. Let's explore the Scriptures together, connect the dots, and uncover the major themes of redemption.
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Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
Remember everything I said yesterday, and remember that this is a single letter to a group of dispersed believers. Please read it in that context and frame the applications accordingly. But also, be amazed that "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours." We read these stories in the Bible, and we think how incredible these godly people were. We are impressed by their resolve. We are in awe of their boldness. We are mystified by their faithfulness. Somehow, we forget that they served the same God we serve. We forget that they had the same Holy Spirit working in and through them that we do. Perhaps the reason we lack power in our Christian lives is because we have not come to know well this God we serve. Or, scarier still, we only think we know God but have never actually entered into a relationship with him at all. Before we dismiss that second thought too quickly, I will remind your heart and mine that the Bible is full of people who claimed or believed they walked well with God, but they actually never were people of faith.
One thing we can be sure of is that if we lack the power of God in our lives, it isn't because God is weaker.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
Connect with Us:
Don't Miss Out: Hit subscribe for a daily dose of Bible wisdom. Let's explore the Scriptures together, connect the dots, and uncover the major themes of redemption.
Join us in making Bible study Simpler!
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
Welcome to Simpler Bible, your daily path to biblical understanding.
What's in Store: Daily podcasts, YouTube videos, and blog posts – everything you need to make your Bible study a breeze, no matter where you are on your faith journey.
Connect with Us:
Don't Miss Out: Hit subscribe for a daily dose of Bible wisdom. Let's explore the Scriptures together, connect the dots, and uncover the major themes of redemption.
Join us in making Bible study Simpler!
Here’s an excerpt from the blog post.
James is one of those books/letters that has so many great quotes, we are often taught tiny pieces of it from very early on. Chapter One alone gives us three or four mainline verses we probably learned in middle school or high school. The problem with learning just a few random verses from the book of James, or really any biblical book for that matter, is that we usually don't comprehend the overall context. So then, when we memorize three different verses from James Chapter One, and we are taught to view those three verses in three separate contexts, we end up not understanding the book as a single unit. Let's look at three quotes from this opening chapter.
"Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work, making you mature and complete, lacking nothing." (vs 2-4)
"Every Good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." (vs 17)
"Be doers of the word; and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." (vs 22)
I had these verses down, if not in high school, by the time I was a freshman in college. They are, after all, very popular verses. If we take each one of these short texts on their own we may end up with three different lessons completely. Consider the first one: this text was taught to me that no matter what trial I went through, God was using it to develop and mature my faith. It is a fair point and could absolutely be applied that way, but I was never taught to consider the immediate context.
Consider the second text: I was taught over and over that if I had anything good in my life it came from God. Again, that's a fair point, but I wasn't taught to see how this verse fit in with the point James was making to the dispersed Jewish believers.
For more visit http://simplerbible.com/episodes
