IBS 1 Corinthians 13:7-8a (7-17-14)

Inductive Bible Study for 1 Corinthians 13:7-8a (7-17-14)

"(Love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."

In summation so far, love: suffers long, is kind, doesn't envy, doesn't parade itself, isn't puffed up, isn't rude, isn't selfish, isn't provoked, doesn't think evil, and doesn't rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in truth. Honestly, verse 7 about (insert verb)ing ALL things has confused me. Does bearing and enduring all things mean going through, for example, abuse without saying anything? Does believing and hoping all things mean being gullible? No - how do I know that's not what this verse means? Because I know that God wants us to confront people when they sin against us (Matthew 18:15), and that we are to test everything and hold fast to what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). 

When I think of bearing all things, I think of that person who's been faithful to be my friend even through the times I've been depressed, irritable, and a bad friend. Bearing means not giving up and leaving. It means loving even when someone doesn't love you back. Love isn't selfish, so it doesn't stop loving when it's not loved in return. As I said before, when people sin we are to confront them but still show them the love of Christ. I am learning how to do this in my own life right now. It's easier to "go through the motions" with someone when they're a friend than it is when it's a family member - you usually don't have to live with that person if they don't take it well. In my case, I'm bearing with this person because I love them dearly and nothing can ever change that. 

To believe all things doesn't mean to believe everything everyone tells you. Believing is to have confidence in the truth. Believing the best about someone until they prove otherwise. Even when they prove otherwise, love still forgives and believes they can change. Love hopes all things. Hope is what faith is made of. Hope doesn't mean thinking something will happen - it's knowing beyond a doubt. I don't wish that I was saved. I know for certain that I'm saved and have an unshakeable hope for heaven. Love hopes all things. Love doesn't doubt - love trusts. Love fights for truth and justice. Romans 14:10 says "Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess to God.", love believes God will have the final say. 

Love endures all things. Even when there seems to be no hope left, love doesn't give up. The only Love that hasn't ever given up is Jesus. When He was praying before being betrayed, He asked God the Father if there was any other way to save the world - twice. But He said "Not my Will but Yours be done" (Matthew 26:39 & 42). Jesus endured torture, bearing the sins of the world on His shoulders, death and separation from His Father because He loves us. He endured everything so that we could choose not to. Love never ends. I can't even fathom the depths of God's love for us. I was the one who nailed Him to that cross and yet He loves me with perfect, unending love. 

All this is wonderful and touches my heart, but if I don't do anything about it, then it's useless. I have been using this a lot lately though - even when I don't mean to, I share the Gospel in every class that I teach about God. I'm going to make more of an effort to share Christ's love with those around me. We go grocery shopping every week, and there is an Indian girl there who is the daughter of the owner. I've been praying for her and God has put a burden on my heart for her. I'm going to write her a short letter and give it to her when we go next time. 

IBS 1 Corinthians 13:5-6 (7-13-14)

Inductive Bible Study for 1 Corinthians 13:5-6 (7-13-14)

"(Love) does not behave rudely, does not seek it's own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;"

As in the last IBS I wrote, I said that love is a verb. God is love - which means that He fulfills all of these requirements. He is not rude, selfish or provoked to sin, He doesn't think evil and He rejoices in truth. I fail every single one of these requirements - does this mean I don't truly love? That's a hard question because I feel that I DO love people. Am I rude, selfish and able to be provoked? Absolutely! I would say there isn't a day that goes by when I don't think some form of evil - whether it be lust, anger, hate, jealousy and/or assuming bad things about someone. I fall so far short - every single day - of truly loving people, and of truly loving the One Who loves me most. 

Jesus - being fully Man and fully God - never failed to personify Love. God loved sinful human beings so much that He humbled Himself, became a Man, and suffered and died unjustly. He was innocent and could have saved Himself at any point. But He didn't. Why? Because He loved us and knew we could never save ourselves. If He had sinned or failed to personify Love just once - He wouldn't be the perfect sacrifice and would therefore have forfeited any chance of possibly saving us. I know that Jesus died because He loves us, but I don't know WHY. It blows my mind that God loves someone like me, and that all He wants in return for saving us is for us to give our lives to Him. 

This week for teaching (Kid's Club & schools), we're learning about the 10 Commandments. Don't have gods before God, don't make idols, don't take God's Name in vain, remember the Sabbath, honor Mom and Dad, don't: murder, commit adultery, steal, lie or covet. None of these say not to be rude, selfish or proud. Is failing to be loving a sin? It is falling short of perfection - and to miss the mark is to sin. In the New Testament, Jesus gives two commandments on which hang all the Law and the Prophets. They are: "You shall love The Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself". (Matthew 23:37-40) 

Wait, love God and your neighbors? Is this the same love that is talked about in 1 Corinthians? Yes. Yes it is. Who exactly is my neighbor? EVERYONE. Wow, so I'm commanded to love every person I come in contact with - to be kind, gentle and humble, to be patient, gracious and a peacemaker, to not be envious, rejoicing in evil or parading myself. That's impossible, which is exactly the point. We can never love perfectly, but the reason we try is to show everyone that Christ loves us. We don't do good works to earn grace - we have received grace freely and now should desire to give freely to God and others. 

I want to be an empty vessel that God can use to pour out His love on others. There is no possible way for me to love without His strength. In addition to praying every morning for emptiness, brokenness and the filling of the Spirit - I'm going to ask The Lord to remind me to love everyone with His love and correct me when I'm being unloving. 

IBS 1 Corinthians 13:3b-4 (6-25-14)

Inductive Bible Study for 1 Corinthians 13:3b-4

"But have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, and is not puffed up,"

This is the chapter on love and I always think of the song called Love Never Fails by Brandon Heath when I read it. My favorite part about this song is the line that says "Love is alive - Love is the Way, the Truth, the Life". Jesus is Love, Love is Jesus. The only One's Name Who has/will ever be put in place of love is God. For example - change "love endures all things. Love never fails." to "Jesus endures all things. Jesus never fails." None of us can ever fulfill those requirements, nor (by God's grace) do we have to. However, as a result of God's love towards us, we should want to ask the Spirit for these attributes.

All these adjectives of love are fruits of the Spirit and virtues. Galatians 5:22-23 lists the fruit of the Spirit - notice how there are 9 words but the word fruit is singular. It appears to me that all the other words are a byproduct of love. Joy, peace, long suffering (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control come as a result of loving God and others. You can't be joyful or have peace without loving first. You can't be kind or patient if you don't have love. Back in 1 Corinthians at the beginning of the chapter, there are several things that Paul says are worthless without love - speaking in tongues, gift of prophesy, all knowledge, having all faith to move mountains, giving everything to the poor and having his body burned.

Life is empty and worthless without love. Paul says anything he says without love just sounds like a clanging cymbal. You can be right about something but be wrong because you said it without love. You can be the nicest person ever, but it doesn't matter if you didn't do it with love. Everyone has a hole inside them that can't be filled with anyone or anything except God. Human beings were made to worship God and are missing the point of life if they're living for themselves. Love is what we are filled with by God and love is what we pour out on others when we are overflowing with God's Spirit. There's a constant cycle and struggle inside of me to empty me of myself and let the Spirit fill me with Him - He is where I find my love, peace and strength.

Love suffers long. I hate suffering. Suffering is not fun or easy - it's scary, depressing and difficult. Yet Jesus suffered through torture and a slow, agonizing death on the Cross for me. If I truly love someone, I will suffer for them. Love is kind. Being kind is a little easier than suffering, but in so far as I can be kind on the outside but not on the inside. Being kind is being considerate. I need to make sure my heart is right when I'm being kind. Love does not envy. Envy is coveting - this is also a matter of the heart. Am I content with what God has given me and where He has placed me? Do I wish I had what others have or am I happy for them and love them.

Love does not parade itself. I think parading is when we try to make others envy US. Do I show off what I have because I want people to want what I have or am I content with simply having what God has given me? Parading is not loving others - it is causing them to stumble. Love is not puffed up. Arrogance is not loving others - it's being important in your own eyes. It's thinking you're better than everyone else, but we are all created equal in God's eyes. As said before, love is the most important thing to have. I want to be loving in everything I do, so I'm going to write the word LOVE on my wrist as a reminder.

IBS John 15:5 (6-9-14)

Inductive Bible Study for John 15:5 (6-9-14)

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

Earlier in this chapter, Jesus says that He is the TRUE vine. This shows that there are other "vines" that people seek fulfillment from. Jesus says that He is "the Way, the Truth and the Life". He not only knows exactly what we need, He IS exactly what we need. Also, He is not one of many things we need, He is the ONLY One we need. It's terrifying yet comforting at the same time to think that all I could ever long for is found in my Savior. But how often I try to replace Him with other people, things or desires. There can also be false "vines", or false teachers that people follow after. This is why God tells us to be wary and to test everything against what Scripture says. 

Something interesting I found is that Jesus did not say He was A vine, He said He was THE vine. He is not a way, a truth or a life - He is THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life. Jesus claims to be the only Way to the Father, and the Father agreed with this statement by blessing the works Jesus performed. There are usually two extreme views of the God of the Bible - that He is either the God of love or the God of judgement. You cannot be a good judge without loving justice and you cannot truly love without being fair and equal. God gives every person a choice - to let Him be The Lord of their lives or to continue to be their own lord of their lives. He's a Gentleman and He will not go where He is not welcomed. 

In relation to Jesus being the vine, He says that we are the branches. Branches on a tree die when they're cut off from their life source. We would have no life at all if it weren't for us being connected to Christ. We are all branches connected to Christ - we are all one in Him. We are individuals but united by our faith. I love how we are all so different - backgrounds, places we live and ways we relate - yet we function as one Body under Christ, Who is the Head. We are all important and have different roles - the eye cannot say to the hand "I don't need you". We are to assemble together like a toy you put together, not just gather together like throwing the parts of a toy in a pile. 

Abide. What does this mean? Abiding in God and God abiding in us. To abide is to exist with. Everyone's existence is only possible because of God, but that doesn't mean everyone abides in Him. Abiding in Jesus is a personal choice that each person gets to make. There's a world of difference between believing that Jesus is God and abiding in Him. Even the demons believe and tremble. God desires or us to accept what He says about us, die to ourselves and live - not only for, but also IN Him. He says that if we abide in Him we will bear much fruit. It's awesome to know that I'm not required to MAKE the fruit - that is God's job - I'm just asked to bear it. He prepared good works that we should walk in them. 

To finish this verse, Jesus says that without Him, we can do nothing. People don't sit around and do nothing all the time, so what is He talking about? I look at humanity as a mirror - broken into billions of pieces by sin. Everyone reflects God - some a little and some a lot. People can do good things but we're still broken without God. When we see that there's no hope for us to escape our sin and we ask Jesus to save us, we become whole again and can then truly do good things for God and others. So without Jesus, we can do nothing of eternal value. We can do selfish things to benefit us or even other people, but eventually it will fade away. Jesus says that the good works we do for Him will be as treasure stored up on heaven. 

Every day I have been reading in the Word and I've been discovering the magnitude of my need for God. Whenever I try to get through the day in my own strength, I end up depressed, angry, sad and/or empty. I will have a lot of weight on my shoulders if I don't give my burdens to Jesus. I get worried and anxious about my family, the future and everything else. God has been constantly reminding me that I am right where I need to be, that He is faithful and that He will take care of me. He is my comfort when I am terrified, He is my love when I have hate raging inside of me and He is my peace when I am confused and hurting. I am going to write "without Me, you can do nothing" on my hand to remind me throughout the day how much I need my Savior.

IBS Romans 8:1-2 (6-3-14)

Inductive Bible Study for Romans 8:1-2 (6-3-14)

"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death."

Everyone is a sinner and is thereby condemned to die in their sins. God does not send anyone to hell - He gives us the choice to ask His forgiveness and be cleansed by the blood Jesus shed for us on the cross. So after someone repents and asks Jesus to be their Savior, this verse says the condemnation is gone. All the sins they've ever done and ever will do are paid for by Jesus. What does it mean to be IN Christ Jesus? Walking in the Spirit is contrasted with walking in the flesh. When we die to ourself, take up our cross and follow Christ, we are putting the "old man" to death. We say that it is no longer we who live, but it is now Christ who lives in us.

By asking God to be The Lord of your life, you are calling Him your Master. Galatians talks about the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Love is the first fruit and all the rest are a result of loving. For example, if you love someone, you're going to be kind, joyful and gentle. Walking in the flesh does not give us any fruit of the Spirit - we are not loving, joyful or full of peace because we are thinking only of ourselves and how we can benefit from life. There is not condemnation for even those who walk according to the flesh - however, you can't be in fellowship with the Holy Spirit when you're shoving Him out of your life.

What do you do when you feel condemned for sins after you're saved from them? If you're living in habitual sin, then you SHOULD be feeling convicted! After you've repented and been forgiven by God and those you've sinned against, it's over and done with. Our sin is as far as the east is from the west. Jesus already went through all the punishment we deserve and we are justified by His blood - just as if we'd never sinned. Should we then sin just because we know we'll be forgiven of it? Paul asks this question, and of course the answer is no! We should never sin just because grace will abound much more. God hates sin. He hates what separates us from Him. He wants us to follow Him and live a life pleasing to Him. When we fall, we need to repent, get back up and follow hard after Jesus again.

What is the difference between the law of the Spirit and the law of sin and death? The law of the Spirit is being saved by grace because of justification, whereas the law of the flesh is working to be good and never meeting those standards. The purpose of the law is to show human beings how much they fall short of the perfection of God. We would see no beauty in the cross if we didn't know our need for Christ's forgiveness. To those who feel they are righteous, they see no need for forgiveness from God. The cross is offensive because they don't believe they've done anything wrong. To those who feel they are too wicked to be forgiven, they are belittling the power of God's sacrifice to save them.

God knew before He laid the foundations of the earth that we all would be sinners and separated from Him. It is never a surprise to Him when we sin. He sent His Son so that we could have a relationship with Him. He knows that we are weak - He knows we can't do things on our own. His desire is that all should come to be saved, that He would have a personal relationship with all the people He created. I have surrendered my life to Jesus and am in the process of being sanctified - little by little He is revealing myself to me and I am allowing Him to conform me more to Him. I desire to please Him and learn from Him more each day. I read in the Bible every day, but I am going to write a few words summing up what I learned on my wrist so I can meditate on it throughout the day.

Book Report - We Would See Jesus by Roy and Revel Hession (6-2-14)

We Would See Jesus by Roy and Revel Hession (6-2-14)

God used this book to further open my eyes to see how deep His love is and how simple walking with Him can be. I used to think there was some sort of formula for how to have the best relationship with Christ. More and more though, I'm seeing that it's so easy in concept yet difficult to live out. The whole point of asking Jesus to be your Lord and Savior is to have HIM be in control of your life - not YOU. He works on all of is differently, and for the longest time, I refused to let Him work on me. I felt that my sin was more pleasurable than letting Him be my everything.

Pg 35 in this book says "The acknowledgement of need and the confession of sin, therefore, is always the first step in seeing Jesus. Then, where there is acknowledged need, the Holy Spirit delights to show to the heart The Lord Jesus as the supply of just that need." He desires to supply all our needs, and our first and greatest need is to be forgiven of our sins. Before we see this need though, we see no reason to ask Jesus for help. Everyone has a void in them that they're trying to fill - Jesus is the only One Who can fill it. Why does it seem I continually try to fill that void with everything except Him?

Pg 69 says "Even when a Christian identifies the sins that have separated him from God, he often occupies himself with the problem of how not to sin again rather than with getting back to God and to peace." This perfectly summarizes the believer's problem of trying to work for forgiveness and grace. Once we repent of sin, we should get up and humbly continue to follow the path Christ has set before us. The problem arises when we strive in our own strength to stay away from sin - we will inevitably be tempted again and fail if we're not relying on Christ. That famous verse says we can do all things - but ONLY through Christ Who strengthens us. 

I really love that all we need is Jesus. So often though, we try to add more to Him. It is supposed to be Jesus + nothing. Pg 106 says "We do not need a way to the Way. It is that little way to the Way that defeats us, and makes the real way of none effect to us because we cannot get there." We complicate things so much! All we need to do is to be submitting to God and to His view of us. When sin comes up, we repent and continue on walking with The Lord. I used to think I needed to clean myself up before I could come to Jesus, but I see now that He wants me to come to Him just as I am. I am dirty and Jesus can make me clean, but He can't clean me until I open up to Him and admit my need for Him. 

Pg 81 says "We come down from our unrepentant strivings to those dear pierced feet of His, and in a matter of moments we have entered by faith into a peace and rest of heart that has eluded us for so long. Truly, to see Jesus is to lose our burdens and to enter into satisfaction." There is nothing we can do to earn grace and we are not required to create good works. Ephesians 2:8-10 says that our works have nothing to do with our salvation and we just need to walk in the works He already prepared. This takes the burden off of us to boast in ourselves and eliminates striving. 

Pg 138 says "There never comes a time when grace ends and self has to begin again." We never have to do this on our own. Ever. I find so much comfort in this. My flesh wants to work at things myself and be able to accomplish everything. I am learning that nothing good can come from me, so why do I try to do it myself? God has His ear inclined to my mouth - waiting for me to cry out to Him for help. God's grace will never run out so my flesh never has to kick in. No matter what's going on and no matter how much I want my plans to work out - God always has a better way. He is the only One I want, and the only One I need. Everything and everyone else will fall into place when I put Jesus first. What do I want to see in my life? I want to see Jesus. 

IBS Psalm 1:4-6 (5-23-14)

Inductive Bible Study for Psalm 1:4-6 (5-23-14)

"The ungodly are not so, but are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly will perish."

We just read about the man who delights himself in The Lord instead of in the counsel of the ungodly. This man is blessed, he produces good fruit and everything he does prospers. We're going to look at the way of the ungodly, and then the consequences of the different ways people live. One of the characteristics of the godly man was that he was like a tree, planted near water. In contrast, this ungodly man is like chaff which the wind drives away. 

I've heard it said "You should have an open mind". While this is true to some extent, if you are completely open minded you will be swayed by anything, just like chaff in the wind. What are we keeping our minds open to? Everyone is searching for truth, right? So what is truth? I used to think truth was subjective to how I wanted it to be. This is not the case. If everyone got to say their own definition of truth then there would be no truth because there would be opposing views. For example - some people say that lying is wrong, while some people say that lying is fine. They can't both be true - one is true and one is false.

Who determines truth if everyone's view of truth is different? I used to not like this answer, but that doesn't matter - the only One Who can objectively determine truth is God. His view never changes, regardless of circumstances, time or events. He knows everything and He is the same - yesterday, today and tomorrow. While people may not agree with Him and His standards, He is the final judge. I used to not like His commands because I disobeyed them - I've lied, stolen, hated, dishonored my parents, lusted, taken God's Name in vain and put things and people in the place of God. I hated that I couldn't meet His standard of perfection, so I ignored it.

I saw in Romans 6:23 that what I deserved for my sins was death and eternal separation from God. He can't be in the presence of sin, but He knew we couldn't measure up. The next part of that verse says that God gave us the free gift of eternal life. Awesome! So I have a free gift from God and can now go to heaven. Before this though, it says it's only through Jesus. This means I have to lay down my rights and let God be the ruler of my life. I am a very prideful person and this is a daily struggle for me - to give my plans, dreams and desires to Him and let Him have His way in me.

So we see from Psalm 1:5 that the ungodly won't stand in the judgement, and the sinners won't be in the congregation of the righteous. Romans 3:23 says "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory or God". What does this verse mean then? Everyone's a sinner - how then will ANYONE be righteous? As previously said, God knew we could never be righteous on our own. That's why He sent His perfect Son, Jesus Christ, to bear all our sins and offer His righteousness to us. These righteous and godly people we read about then are those who have accepted God's free gift of salvation.

Something very important to remember is that there's nothing anyone can do to earn righteousness or grace. We, as human beings, are constantly striving to be "good". The fact is that we literally CAN NOT BE GOOD. We are all evil at heart - even Adam and Eve, made perfect in the Garden of Eden chose to rebel against God. How much more are we rebellious against God, being born sinful? So why will the way of the ungodly perish? Why does God know the way of the righteous? 

Perishing is being eternally separated from God - which is what happens when a person lives how they want to live and refuses to accept Jesus' gift of salvation. God does not send people to hell. He is a Gentleman and will not go where He's not welcome. When people die and their soul goes to hell, it is because God can't be near sin and these people would not welcome Jesus into their hearts. Why would someone want to go to heaven (where we will worship God for eternity), if they never loved God or lived for Him? How does God know the way of the righteous? These righteous people have made the choice to live for Him, so He will know their ways.

So now what? What questions can I ask myself after studying these verses? First is - am I blown around by every wind of doctrine, or am I firmly planted like a tree? The answer is the second - I am reading God's Word every day, spending time in prayer and waiting on Him. Second question is - does The Lord know my way? Are my ways honoring to Him? All my ways cannot be honoring to Him all the time because I am a wretched sinner, but I ask Him to search my heart and reveal sin to me so that I can repent and be honoring in His sight. Last question is - with the knowledge of all ungodly people not being allowed in God's presence, am I sharing with them the Good News that can change their eternity? 

This will be my application. It's nice that I know what these verses mean, but there's no profit if I'm not living what I read. I am going to make an effort to ask people if they know Jesus. I've asked a few kids at Kid's Club, but I want to dig deeper in my conversations with people when I talk to them. If I truly love someone, I will share with them the greatest news they could ever receive - that God became a Man, took the punishment for their sins by dying on the Cross and they can receive His free gift of salvation if they just ask.