Scripture Study – Page 2 – Karen Gamble Writes

Proverbs 17:9 Sunday School Lesson Outline

He who covers over an offense promotes love;

But whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. Proverbs 17:9 (NIV)

What does it mean cover over an offense?

It means to respond with love, even when someone acts ugly, rude, or hateful.

The second line, whoever repeats the matter, means that it is talking about a specific incident.

So, what this verse is saying is when someone does or says something to offend or hurt us, we should respond with love.

If someone steps on my foot, for example, I have the choice to either say, it’s okay and let it go, or to fuss at them for it.

But, what if it’s something they did on purpose?

Category: God, Lesson Outline, Scripture Study, Sunday School, Teaching | LEAVE A COMMENT

Proverbs 3:5-6 Sunday School Lesson Outline

Today’s verses are pretty well-known but they are good ones.

Turn to Proverbs 3:5-6:

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways submit to Him,

and He will make your paths straight. NIV

We are to trust in the Lord with all our hearts.

What does that mean?

It means completely, in every way, in every situation, with everything we care about

Our kids, our fears, wants, dreams, health, decisions, actions

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!

There is nothing in our lives or hearts that we are not supposed to trust Jesus with.

What does it mean to lean not on your own understanding?

It means to put aside how you understand things.

It means to realize that you don’t have it all figured out, but God does.

It’s being wise enough to know that when we trust God we don’t have to even try to understand everything.

It is choosing to lean on His understanding of things instead of ours.

We only have to obey Him and trust He will work it and handle it, no matter what our “it” is.

Trusting the Lord with our whole heart is not easy.

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Proverbs 11:2 Sunday School Lesson Outline

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. (NIV)
When pride cometh, then cometh shame; but with the lowly is wisdom. (KJV)

I don’t know about you, but if I’m not very careful, my pride can sometimes trip me up.

Unfortunately, pride is not something that we deal with once and we’re done.

Pride stays with us and is typically an issue in some form or another our whole lives.

Not that we are bad or a failure, but because the flesh is stubborn and wants what it wants.

For this reason…

We have to choose to set our pride aside and humble ourselves on a daily, sometimes moment-by-moment basis.

Now there are 2 kinds of pride. One is good and one is bad.

The good one is like when you take pride in something you are doing.

You want to do a good job and you want to get it right.

You care about your work.

Wanting to do a good job and do the best you can is a good thing.

You enjoy doing a good job instead of a half-baked job.

That kind of pride is okay.

The other kind of pride is the one being addressed in this verse.

It’s the bad kind.

Here’s Google Dictionary’s definition of it:

Pride – over-inflated sense of self-importance.
When you think more of yourself than you should.

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It’s Palm Sunday!

Today is Palm Sunday!

It’s the day we remember and celebrate Jesus’ Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem.

Humbly riding a donkey, He declared Himself King of Israel, in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy which stated:

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
    Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
    righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9 NIV

He did this not for His own glory, but so that we would all know Who He is in the hopes that we would be reconciled to God and saved from sin.

As Jesus rode into Jerusalem the people expressed their adoration, praise, and joy by crying, “Hosanna!”

We should join them in celebrating and declaring:

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Luke-19-38 NIV

Today also marks the beginning of Holy Week as we remember Jesus and the tribulations He suffered as He became our Living Sacrifice.

I hope you will take time this week to prayerfully reflect on Christ and what He did for you..

I invite you to read an in-depth explanation of Palm Sunday by reading my post, What is Palm Sunday?

You might also like to read my post, What is Holy Week? which gives a more in-depth explanation of why this week is so important.

You can read the complete story of Palm Sunday by visiting Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-16, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19.

To learn more about the Easter Season, please visit my Easter page, a compilation of previous Easter and Lent posts.

Category: Death, Holiday, Jesus, Scripture Study | LEAVE A COMMENT

What Is Good Friday?

Good Friday is the day we remember Jesus and His death on a cross.

Crucifixion was a common way to execute people during the time of the Roman Empire.

It was a very slow and painful way to die, sometimes taking several days.

The person being executed typically died due to exhaustion and asphyxiation.

The night before Jesus died He’d been arrested and taken before the Jewish high priest and elders.

After questioning Him at length, they decided Jesus should die for the sin of blasphemy* because He said He was the Christ, the Son of God.

They took Him to the Roman Governor, Pilate, and asked that he execute Jesus for them – Jewish leaders were not permitted to execute anyone themselves.

Pilate questioned Jesus at length but couldn’t find Him guilty of anything.

When Pilate returned Him to the leaders and elders, stating there was no basis for execution, the leaders told Pilate that Jesus had claimed to be a king and was therefore an enemy of Caesar.

When Pilate asked Jesus if He was the king of the Jews, Jesus said yes.

Category: God, Holiday, Jesus, New Testament, Scripture Study | LEAVE A COMMENT

What Is Palm Sunday?

Palm Sunday is the holiday we celebrate the Sunday before Easter.

It is the day we remember and celebrate when Jesus made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

Here’s what happened:

When Jesus and His disciples were traveling toward Jerusalem they stopped at a nearby village.

Jesus sent two of His disciples to the village to locate and bring back a young donkey that was tied up but had never been ridden.

He told them if anyone asked what they were doing to tell them it was for Him and that He would send it back shortly. (Mark 11:1-3 NIV)

When they went into the village they found the donkey there, just like He’d said.

Someone did ask about it and the disciples did tell them why they were taking it. They were then allowed to leave with it.

The disciples brought the donkey to Jesus and laid their cloaks on it for Him to sit on.

Jesus rode the donkey into the town of Jerusalem.

As He did so, the crowds that were with Jesus when He arrived as well as many of the people in the town laid their cloaks or palm and tree branches down on the ground in front of Him.

Category: Faith, Holiday, Jesus, Scripture Study | LEAVE A COMMENT

Count It All Joy…

One bible passage I used to really struggle with comes from the book of James.

It says,

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. –James 1:2-4

So, according to this verse, we are supposed to be joyful over the trials of life?!?

In a way that seems far-fetched.

But look closer…

First, James is talking to other Christians.

We know this because he calls them his brothers.

As Christians, we live within the boundaries of God’s economy, not man’s.

This means that the reasoning and morals of God are what we adhere to.

They are different than the world’s and are often complete opposites to each other.

As Christians we cannot look at things from the world’s point of view.

We must look at things from God’s perspective.

Next, notice he says to consider it joy.

He doesn’t say the trial should be joyful in and of itself.

Category: Faith, Scripture Study | LEAVE A COMMENT

Rightly Dividing Scripture

Rightly dividing the Scriptures is very important to me.

God calls us to it in 2 Timothy 2:15 when he tells us, Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. (NIV)

When I see someone misquote or misapply Scripture I get very concerned for them; I fear they’re being misled by the enemy.

Taking verses out of context or using only part of a Scripture so that it seems to say something different than it’s actual meaning is a favorite tactic of his.

Seeing people fall for it worries me for their sake.

If it happens in person I will typically try to lead the conversation to a place where I can gently and politely correct them without embarrassing them.

If it’s online I typically just let it go.

Either way, I pray for the person, asking God to educate and correct their understanding so they can learn and be closer to Him.

But then –

Category: God, Jesus, New Testament, Scripture Study, Truth | LEAVE A COMMENT

Spiritual Warfare Armor, Pt. 2 – Sunday School Lesson

We’ve been talking about the Armor of God.

It’s a set of weapons and tools the Lord has gifted us with so that we can fight spiritual battles.

Last week we looked at the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness and having our feet shod with the gospel of peace.

Today we are going to cover the other pieces of armor.

Turn to Ephesians 6:16 –

16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (NIV)

The enemy is going to attack you – he’s a roaring lion looking for someone to devour [1 Peter 5:8 – Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (NIV)]

That’s why we have to be on guard at all times.

When he throws his assaults, attacks, and lies at you, you can use your shield of faith to stop them.

You can stop these attacks by choosing to trust and have faith in God to take care of it and to prevent it.

You can call on God to protect you.

Category: God, Lesson Outline, Scripture Study, Sunday School | LEAVE A COMMENT

Spiritual Warfare Armor, Pt. 1 – Sunday School Outline

Last week we talked about Spiritual Warfare.

We have an enemy who is like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8)

He hates us because he hates Christ and wants to destroy us.

Thankfully, Christ beat him once and for all at Calvary with His death, burial, and resurrection.

He’s a defeated foe.

As Christians we’ve been given weapons of warfare to fight against the enemy and his schemes.

These weapons are called the armor of God.

So, today we’re going to look at some of the pieces of that armor.

We are still in the book of Ephesians, chapter 6.

Ephesians 6:14 –

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around our waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place – NIV

Let’s look first at the belt of truth –

Or, as the KJV calls it – having your loins girt about with truth

I went to BlueLetterBible.org and looked this word up in the original Greek.

It had 3 definitions –

What is true in any matter under consideration; in reality; in fact; certainty.

So, this would mean whatever is true of a situation; what’s really going on.

The literal truth of it.

The second definition was:

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