Scripture Study – Page 4 – Karen Gamble Writes

The Heart – Sunday School Outline

When we study our heart we also must consider our thoughts and our mouths.

All three of these are interconnected.

Here’s why:

Your thoughts affect what your heart believes.

Your heart affects what your head believes.

Your words are a reflection of what’s in your heart.

Turn to Matthew 15–
Some pharisees and teachers came to see Jesus.
     -they wanted to know why the disciples were breaking the rules.
     -remember by this time the pharisees had made up a bunch of rules, regulations, and traditions they said everyone had to follow to be properly following the law
     – they weren’t actually God’s laws, they were just man’s rules.
     -they said the disciples were eating without washing their hands
     -the Pharisees were pretty offended by this.

Verse 3 – Jesus answers their question with His…
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.” (NIV)

Jesus calls them out.
He points out where they are being sinful and manipulates the law.

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Thoughts -Sunday School Outline

Do you think about what you’re thinking about?

Or, do you just assume the thoughts in your head are true and right and go with them?

Part of being a Christian is knowing the truth – about God, others, situations, and ourselves.

Colossians 3:9-10 says:
“9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” (NIV)

-In other words – now that we are Christians we are not supposed to lie.
-Lying was a part of our old selves, not our Christian selves.
-This includes lying to ourselves.

Now that we are Christians we are supposed to deal only in the truth.

Now look at Romans 12:1-3:
12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (NIV)

How can we be transformed by the renewing of our mind?

How can that change us?

Why should we be transformed/changed?

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Sunday School Lessons

I recently started teaching a Women’s Sunday School class at my church.

From time to time I will be posting the outline of the previous day’s lesson here on the blog.

It is my hope these lessons will help you better understand God’s word.

You are free to use them to teach your own classes or to share with others. All I ask is that you let them know where you got the material.

If you have any comments or would like to discuss any of the lessons, please be sure to let me know. I would love an opportunity to speak with you!

A list of the available lessons can be found on my Lessons Outlines page.

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Bible Study Tools

Studying your bible is a very important part of your faith walk. (find out more about why here)

Here are some resources and tips to help you better understand what you read so you can have a deeper and more thorough understanding of God’s word.

Chase A Verse

A good way to get a better and deeper understanding is by doing what I call chasing a verse.

Many bibles have a column of numbers running through the middle of the page. This is called a cross reference. If you will look at the small numbers you will see they coincide with the passages on the page.

These are followed by verses. If you look those verses up you will see they are related to the original verse. You can also check out the cross reference verses related to the verses you just looked up when you cross referenced the original verse. By “chasing” these verses you can gain a broader understanding of the passage you are reading.

Another way to improve and expand your understanding is by looking up the words in the verses you are studying.

There are several good resources to help you do that.

Blue Letter Bible – www.blb.org is a website that has several versions of the bible you can read for free.

It also has a feature that allows you to look at a word’s original Greek, complete with definition.

(To access this feature, you must choose the King James Version (KJV) bible translation.)

To use this tool begin by using their search box to look up the word or verse you are interested in.

Look at the middle of the upper part of the page and you will see a box marked Strong’s. If you click on it then it will put a blue number by each word.

Clicking that blue number takes you to the original Greek word and definition.

Another feature Blue Letter Bible has is a search box so you can look up words and it will show you every time that word is in the bible.

It does differentiate between tenses so be sure to look at all of those too; for instance run and ran are considered 2 different things.

A good resource for studying a particular subject you are interested in is by consulting the Nave’s Topical Index (also called Nave’s Topical Bible) https://www.naves-topical-bible.com/ (also available as a printed book). It is arranged by topic (also known as subject), and gives you virtually all the information from the bible on that topic. It is arranged similar to an encyclopedia.

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How to Study Your Bible

Regular Bible Study is an important part of being a Christian. (read why here)

If it’s not something you are familiar with it can be a bit intimidating. The bible is a big book and it may be confusing as to where to start.

(Tip: The bible is divided into two parts: The Old Testament and the New Testament. Each of these is a collection of books combined together. When I say book in this post I am talking about one of these books, not the entire bible.)

When it comes to reading it, don’t be afraid. Just jump in there and try, even if you are uncomfortable or nervous. Once you get started you might see it’s not as hard as you thought it would be!

Here are some steps to follow to help get you started reading:

Give yourself grace.

You cannot sit and read all of it at once.

You typically can’t even read a whole book, unless it’s one of the really short ones like Jude or 3rd John.

That’s okay, it’s not a race.

It’s an investment in your life, your faith walk, and God’s kingdom.

So take a deep breath and relax.

It’s not a race!

Start by finding a quiet spot and uninterrupted few minutes.

This might mean you have to get up a few minutes early. You could also use your lunch break at work, or time alone in the evening when the day has calmed down.

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Studying Scripture

Studying the Bible is an important part of being a Christian.

Commonly called Scripture or God’s Word, the bible teaches us about God and His son, Jesus, their redemption plan for all mankind, as well as how we should live our lives.

It’s important to understand it is not just some book a bunch of people wrote a long time ago.

The men who wrote it were inspired by God.

Look at this verse:

¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)

or put another way:

¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; ¹⁷so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NASB)

In other words, God inspired the men to write the bible and it has an important part to play in our lives so that we can become better Christians. Reading Scripture teaches, corrects, scolds (rebukes) us, and trains us to be righteous. It does this so that we will have what we need to do what God calls us to as well as live our lives in a way that pleases Him.

Scripture plays an important part in leading and guiding us through life.

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Conviction vs. Condemnation

There are two very similar things we experience concerning mistakes we make and sins we commit.

One is conviction, the other is condemnation.

I’m not talking about the condemnation we are under if we are not Christians. (You can read more about that condemnation here.)

I’m talking about what we feel concerning our sins and our regrets towards those sins.

Condemnation and conviction both speak to us about our sins but they come from two very different places.

Condemnation says what we did is bad, we’re no good, God might not even love us anymore.

Condemnation brings up past mistakes and sins as a way of trying to falsely prove we are of low worth.

It is demoralizing, discouraging, and deters us from trying.

It encourages us to give up.

These thoughts and ideas are from the enemy and/or our lack of understanding of who we are in Christ.

Conviction, on the other hand, says what we did was wrong and we need to apologize to God. We need to make things right.

It is correcting, revealing the truth of our errors and ways. It seeks to reconcile us to God.

Conviction is from God by way of the Holy Spirit speaking to us and pointing out our sins so we can repent and restore our relationship with God to its proper place.

A wise friend once told me,

“Condemnation makes you want to run FROM God, while conviction makes you want to run TO God.”

Wise words, indeed.

The whole point of condemnation is to get our eyes off Christ and what He did for us and on to our own insufficiency.

Don’t fall for this trick of the enemy.

Instead, when condemnation comes, remember, as a Christian we are no longer condemned.

Yes, we made a bad choice. Yes, we sinned.

But – it’s not the end of the world. We haven’t lost our chances with God. He hasn’t, and won’t, turn His back on us.

Instead of giving in to the condemnation and the tailspin of chaos it creates, we can go straight to God in prayer.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)

We can tell Him what we are feeling. Ask Him to help us navigate it.

We can repent of our sin.

(Repent – to agree with God that He is right, that what we did was wrong, apologize, and commit to not doing it again.)

After repenting, it’s important to let go of it and refuse to go back to it. Once it’s dealt with, it’s dealt with. There’s no reason to revisit it.

Once we have repented, we are restored in our relationship with God. We can move on, being careful not to repeat the same sin.

Condemnation may want to take us back to the scene of the crime. We can’t let it. There’s no value in it.

Instead, rest in the knowledge that God’s grace is sufficient, walking in the assurance that now that the sin has been dealt with we can confidently move forward in our relationship with God.

Is there something you are feeling condemnation or conviction over? Will you take it to God in prayer?

For further reading

Romans 8:1 –There is now no condemnation...

Philippians 3:13-14 Forgetting what is behind and pressing on...

My post on being Condemned.

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Condemned

One of the things I often hear people say about why they have not or cannot become a Christian is that they think they have done things that are so bad that God would never accept them.

They think they are condemned by what they have done.

And they are partially correct.

We are condemned because of our many sins.

God is perfect and Holy. He cannot tolerate sin anywhere near Him.

Because of our sins we are separated from God and cannot reconcile ourselves to Him.

Understand, though, it’s not just those who have done terrible things.

All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. ~Romans 3:23 (NIV)

All of us.

This does not mean there is no hope for us or that we are no longer eligible to have a relationship with God.

Jesus came to earth, died on the cross, was buried in a tomb, raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven.

He did this to pay for our sins and reconcile us to God!

This payment makes atonement and releases us from condemnation.

It redeems and rescues us.

In order to receive this reconciliation and rescue we must do something in return.

We must accept this free gift as something done personally for us.

Scripture tells us how we must do it:

⁹If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ~Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)

The truth is there is nothing you have done that is too big to be forgiven. NO MATTER WHAT IT IS!

Jesus is a really big Savior and He can redeem us from absolutely anything.

When He died on the cross to pay our sin debt He did not put a limit on the size, number, or sort of sins He would cover. He covered them all. He did it completely and willingly.

So, no matter what it is you have done it is not too big nor too bad for God to forgive through the blood of Christ that was shed on that cross at Calvary.

Once you have trusted Christ to be your Savior, you are completely redeemed and completely free from the guilt of your past sins.

No questions asked.

No exceptions.

You are redeemed, rescued, reconciled.

You are free!

So, whatever it is you are feeling condemned for, why don’t you trust Christ to take away all your sins and reconcile you to God so you can start life anew without the burden of old sins hanging over you?

For further reading

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, (Jesus) that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”(NIV)

Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”(NIV)

My post on Conviction vs. Condemnation

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Philippians 4:6-7, Part 2

The Scripture verse Philippians 4:6-7 tells us we are not to be anxious about anything.

It tells us we are to instead humbly present our requests to God by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving.

Some Bible translations use the word supplication instead of petition.

What exactly does petition/supplication mean?

It means to make a formal request.

Instead of, “Hey, I want you to work on this”, or, “this needs your attention,”, it is a carefully considered request politely and humbly expressed.

We are asking the God of the Universe for something we want or need. Honor, reverence, and respect is required.

We can make requests about any situation, or anything we see, feel, or experience. It doesn’t even have to be for or about us.

In fact, we can, and should, petition for others. 1 Timothy 2:1 tells us “…petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving should be made for all people…” (NIV)

It’s important to remember that petitions should be made in agreement with Scripture.

God will not grant requests that go against His will or His Word.

Consider this verse:

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us ¹⁵And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him. ~1 John 5:14-15 (NIV)

Did you catch that? If we ask anything according to His will…

Our petitions must be in agreement with His will.

That’s one of the reasons why knowing what Scripture says is so important.

If we know a request we have doesn’t agree with what Scripture says, we can adjust our petition and/or ourselves to more properly reflect what God’s will is. This puts us in a position to be heard.

Once we know God has heard our request, we can thank Him and trust that He will respond.

It may take a while for the answer to come and/or the situation to change, but we can be sure He is working on it and will bring about the best outcome for all involved.

This is the best response we can hope to receive for any petition we might bring before Him.

What petitions do you want to bring before God today? Will you remember to submit them with thanksgiving?

For further reading

1 Timothy 2:1 …petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people… (NIV)

My post on Philippians 4:6-7
My post on How to Give Thanks

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Philippians 4:6-7

One verse I often pray is Philippians 4:6-7 (read more about praying Scripture here).

⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

The verses specifically tell us we are not to be anxious about anything.

At it’s core, being anxious means we are worried about a situation and how to handle it. We are concerned it won’t turn out like it should or that there is no hope.

But look at the rest of that sentence:

“…by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

In other words, when we are worried or upset about something we are to go to God and present our requests to Him. We do this by praying to Him.

We are to pray and ask God for what we need and for help with whatever the situation is.

We are to thank Him for His help and for considering our requests, trusting that He will move on the issue.

When we do this with an honest and humble heart, God responds by giving us His peace which guards our hearts and minds in Christ.

This is not just any peace. It’s a peace so wonderful it can’t even be understood.

It’s this peace we get when we trust God with our burdens that eliminates our anxiety.

It guards our hearts because we’ve chosen to trust God.

Some might say, “but He’s God. He already knows everything. Why doesn’t He just handle it?”

There are several reasons for that. Here are two:

1-He wants us to come to Him and ask because this improves our relationship with Him. By seeing Him respond to our requests, we see firsthand He does answer our prayers, which causes us to trust Him even more. This strengthens our faith and causes us to grow closer to Him. We are reminded that He is always there and that we can go to Him at any time.

2-He wants to remind us of Who He is. When we go to Him in prayer we are reminded that He is the One, True, Living God. He is the God who holds the world in His hands. By going to Him we are reminded of the proper order of things and that we were created for Him, not the other way around. This puts us back into proper alignment concerning authority and helps us to remember it is not about us, it is about Him.

It is this remembering who He is and putting Him in His proper place in our lives that allows us to live free of thinking we have to handle things ourselves, which is what causes the anxiety in the first place.

The next time you feel anxious, stop, pray, ask God to move on it, then thank Him for working in your life and your situation.

Then, trust and watch for Him to help you.

No, the situation might not always turn out the way you would like it to, but you can have the peace of knowing that God is working on it and that He will help you with it in a way only He can, and that whatever happens, He has His hand on it.

What situation will you prayerfully ask Him about today?

For further reading

“Come boldly unto the throne of God…” Hebrews 4:16 NIV
“We are His workmanship, created…” Ephesians 2:10 NIV

My post on How to Give Thanks
My followup post to this one: Philippians 4:6-7, Part 2

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