“From Athens to Los Angeles, first century to twenty-first century and everywhere in between, repentance may not be popular, but it’s still the gospel.” —John MacArthur
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STAND your marriage like a FORTRESS on the ROCK 🏰🪨! Storms will rage, but CHRIST is your FOUNDATION — STAND FIRM! 🙌 Matt 7:25 💑 ‘The Word of God makes a marriage indestructible.’ – John MacArthur. What storm is proving your strength right now? #StrongMarriage
📌 @StudyBibleFam
📌 @StudyBibleFam
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God the Son was not absent or playing peekaboo in the Old Testament. He was the Lord God of Israel who dwelt with his people, had fellowship with them, led them through the wilderness, saved them, and fed them. Eager to be kind, he never stopped being good to his own.
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Don’t let the darkness of this fallen world cause you to forget that the Light has come and will come again.
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“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6
“Paul reasoned daily in the hall of Tyrannus for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” Acts 19:9–10
Two years every day, building truth upon truth, till the whole province was full of knowledge.
“Paul reasoned daily in the hall of Tyrannus for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” Acts 19:9–10
Two years every day, building truth upon truth, till the whole province was full of knowledge.
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Seeing January to December is not luck, it’s always God. If you have 9 seconds tell God something. Please.
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December 8: The Gospel for Barbarians and Fools
#Devotional
Jeremiah 14:1–15:21; Romans 1:1–17; Proverbs 15:1–33
It’s dangerous when we feel entitled. We may come to believe our communities are righteous while all those outside are not. This can even take place inside our faith communities—popularity or various achievements can create subtle feelings of superiority. We begin to believe it’s something we’ve done that brings us favor.
As he writes to the church in Rome, Paul explains that it’s not anything we do, anything we are, or anything we obtain that makes us right with God. His calling verifies this: “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. Thus I am eager to proclaim the gospel also to you who are in Rome” (Rom 1:14).
Ethnicity was a big obstacle for the early church to overcome, as the church was now made up of both Jewish and Gentile believers. God promised Abraham that through him “all the peoples on earth will be blessed” (Gen 12:3). Christ’s redemptive work had finally made this blessing a reality. God’s favor was no longer reserved for those who might be educated or wise. Paul emphasizes that God can redeem those who—to us—might seem unlikely recipients of redemption.
But most important, our standing before God is not based on our goodness. Paul is eager to proclaim the gospel in Rome because it is belief in Jesus, the fulfillment of the promise, that makes believers righteous before God—“the gospel … is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16). Christ’s righteousness has become our righteousness.
If anything, this fact should eliminate any sense of entitlement we might harbor and prompt us to walk in humility with believers and non-believers alike. Our relationship with God is intimately tied to how deeply we understand our need for God. The gospel frees us of any need to attain or achieve. For this, we should be incredibly thankful to God and live with humility for Him.
Do you put stock in the things you think make you a “favored” Christian?
#STUDYBIBLE #Keep_Reforming
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Join @StudyBibleFam
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#Devotional
Jeremiah 14:1–15:21; Romans 1:1–17; Proverbs 15:1–33
It’s dangerous when we feel entitled. We may come to believe our communities are righteous while all those outside are not. This can even take place inside our faith communities—popularity or various achievements can create subtle feelings of superiority. We begin to believe it’s something we’ve done that brings us favor.
As he writes to the church in Rome, Paul explains that it’s not anything we do, anything we are, or anything we obtain that makes us right with God. His calling verifies this: “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. Thus I am eager to proclaim the gospel also to you who are in Rome” (Rom 1:14).
Ethnicity was a big obstacle for the early church to overcome, as the church was now made up of both Jewish and Gentile believers. God promised Abraham that through him “all the peoples on earth will be blessed” (Gen 12:3). Christ’s redemptive work had finally made this blessing a reality. God’s favor was no longer reserved for those who might be educated or wise. Paul emphasizes that God can redeem those who—to us—might seem unlikely recipients of redemption.
But most important, our standing before God is not based on our goodness. Paul is eager to proclaim the gospel in Rome because it is belief in Jesus, the fulfillment of the promise, that makes believers righteous before God—“the gospel … is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16). Christ’s righteousness has become our righteousness.
If anything, this fact should eliminate any sense of entitlement we might harbor and prompt us to walk in humility with believers and non-believers alike. Our relationship with God is intimately tied to how deeply we understand our need for God. The gospel frees us of any need to attain or achieve. For this, we should be incredibly thankful to God and live with humility for Him.
Do you put stock in the things you think make you a “favored” Christian?
#STUDYBIBLE #Keep_Reforming
┏━━━━━━••♥️••━━━━━━┓
Join @StudyBibleFam
┗━━━━━━••♥️••━━━━━━┛
❤1
December 8 - Parable of the Sower: Main Elements
#LifeOfChrist
“‘Hear then the parable of the sower . . .’” (Matthew 13:18).
The Bible is God’s written Word, but His Son is the Living Word who gives Scripture life. Christ told the Jewish leaders, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me” (John 5:39).
This parable centers on proclaiming the gospel and, perhaps more important, concerns the “heart soils” on which that truth, in seed form, falls as the sower preaches. Our Lord goes on to describe four such soils, representing four different hearts that hear the gospel.
Although every human heart is essentially hostile toward God (Rom. 8:7; Eph. 2:15–16), every one has the potential for redemption. If a heart does not respond savingly, it is because of its own sin and refusal to believe. Jesus declares, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (John 6:37).
In a general sense, any of us who preaches or testifies to the gospel is a sower of God’s Word. This parable thus reminds us of the need to be faithful in truly presenting the gospel, given the wonderful results that can occur. As William Arnot wrote: “As every leaf of the forest and every ripple on the lake, which itself receives a sunbeam on its breast, may throw the sunbeam off again, and so spread the light around; in like manner, everyone, old or young, who receives Christ into his heart may and will publish with his life and lips that blessed name.”
Ask Yourself
How have you experienced one or more of the various soils’ responses to your sharing of gospel truth? What have you learned about the reasons why various people respond to Christ’s message of salvation in different ways?
#LifeOfChrist
“‘Hear then the parable of the sower . . .’” (Matthew 13:18).
The Bible is God’s written Word, but His Son is the Living Word who gives Scripture life. Christ told the Jewish leaders, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me” (John 5:39).
This parable centers on proclaiming the gospel and, perhaps more important, concerns the “heart soils” on which that truth, in seed form, falls as the sower preaches. Our Lord goes on to describe four such soils, representing four different hearts that hear the gospel.
Although every human heart is essentially hostile toward God (Rom. 8:7; Eph. 2:15–16), every one has the potential for redemption. If a heart does not respond savingly, it is because of its own sin and refusal to believe. Jesus declares, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (John 6:37).
In a general sense, any of us who preaches or testifies to the gospel is a sower of God’s Word. This parable thus reminds us of the need to be faithful in truly presenting the gospel, given the wonderful results that can occur. As William Arnot wrote: “As every leaf of the forest and every ripple on the lake, which itself receives a sunbeam on its breast, may throw the sunbeam off again, and so spread the light around; in like manner, everyone, old or young, who receives Christ into his heart may and will publish with his life and lips that blessed name.”
Ask Yourself
How have you experienced one or more of the various soils’ responses to your sharing of gospel truth? What have you learned about the reasons why various people respond to Christ’s message of salvation in different ways?
DAY 8: Why is it so important to John to “confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh” (2 John 7)?
https://telegra.ph/DAILY-BIBLE-12-08
https://telegra.ph/DAILY-BIBLE-12-08
Telegraph
DAILY BIBLE
Reading for Today: Hosea 7:1–8:14 Psalm 139:7-12 Proverbs 29:20 2 John 1-13 Notes: Hosea 7:4–7 The civil leaders’ evil lust burned so passionately all night, that the prophet repeatedly described it like a consuming oven (vv. 4, 6, 7), so hot that the baker…
CHRISTIAN STUDY BIBLE
DAY 8: Why is it so important to John to “confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh” (2 John 7)? https://telegra.ph/DAILY-BIBLE-12-08
Question 1: Hosea 7:1–8:14 ESV
A half-baked cake, a silly dove, strangers devouring strength—Israel sows wind and reaps whirlwind. What final image shows they forgot their Maker?
A half-baked cake, a silly dove, strangers devouring strength—Israel sows wind and reaps whirlwind. What final image shows they forgot their Maker?
Anonymous Quiz
25%
A) They set up kings without asking God
15%
B) They appointed princes without His knowledge
10%
C) They built palaces and planted vineyards
50%
D) They multiplied altars and made silver calves
“When Jesus met Paul on the Damascus road and chose a persecutor of the church to add to the apostolic band, Paul was stunned out of his mind that he would be shown such mercy.” —John Piper
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The gospel is offensive
It crushes pride
It exposes every lie
It convicts sinners
It crushes pride
It exposes every lie
It convicts sinners
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“Do not fear what you are about to suffer. . . . Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Revelation 2:10
Don’t fear death or its process.
You are about to be crowned with eternal life.
Which is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore with Christ.
Don’t fear death or its process.
You are about to be crowned with eternal life.
Which is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore with Christ.
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Don't be ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16). Say it loud.
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CHARGE into marriage like LIONS of God’s ARMY 🐎🏹! Side by side, SHIELD to shield, advancing His kingdom TOGETHER! 💥 Josh 1:9 💞 ‘The strongest marriages fight on the same side.’ – Tim Keller. Who’s riding into battle with you? #StrongMarriage
📌 @StudyBibleFam
📌 @StudyBibleFam
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