But It Is Hardly Credible That One Could So Persecute Jesus!

“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?  – Acts 26:14

Am I set on my own way for God? We are never free from this snare until we are brought into the experience of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. Obstinacy and self-will will always stab Jesus Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit. Whenever we are obstinate and self-willed and set upon our own ambitions, we are hurting Jesus. Every time we stand on our rights and insist that this is what we intend to do, we are persecuting Jesus. Whenever we stand on our dignity we systematically vex and grieve His Spirit; and when the knowledge comes home that it is Jesus Whom we have been persecuting all the time, it is the most crushing revelation there could be.

Is the word of God tremendously keen to me as I hand it on to you, or does my life give the lie to the things I profess to teach? I may teach sanctification and yet exhibit the spirit of Satan, the spirit that persecutes Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Jesus is conscious of one thing only – a perfect oneness with the Father, and He says, “Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” All I do ought to be founded on a perfect oneness with Him, not on a self-willed determination to be godly. This will mean that I can be easily put upon, easily over-reached, easily ignored; but if I submit to it for His sake, I prevent Jesus Christ being persecuted.

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Max Lucado – Our Father Never Leaves

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all truth.  John 16:13

Envision a father helping his son learn to ride a bicycle, and you will have a partial picture of the Holy Spirit.

The father stays at the son’s side.  He pushes the bike and steadies it if the boy starts to tumble.  The Spirit does that for us; he stays our step and strengthens our stride.  Unlike the father, however, he never leaves.  He is with us to the end of the age.

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Great Principles of Bible Study (Part 2)

by Rick Warren

“Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’” (Matthew 4:4 NIV)

God wants us to apply his Word and let it change our lives. But it starts with studying God’s Word. How do you do it? Yesterday I gave you two general principles for Bible study that apply to any Bible study method.

1. Ask the right questions.

2. Write down your observations.

Today, I’ll share three more.

3. Apply God’s Word. You move from the “what” to the “so what” and do what the Bible says. The ultimate goal of all Bible study is application. In other words, how will this Scripture change my life? We never settle for understanding alone. We want to apply the biblical principles to our daily living.

Interpretation without application is abortion! You stop the process before it comes to full fruition. All of our Bible study efforts really don’t have any value if, in the final analysis, I don’t become more like Christ.

In fact, you only believe the part of the Bible you apply. Do you believe in sharing Christ with others? Do you believe in tithing? Do you do those activities? If you don’t do them, then you don’t really believe what the Bible teaches about them. The problem that most of us have with the Bible isn’t what we don’t understand; it’s applying what we do understand!

4. Study the Bible systematically. Don’t just study the Bible haphazardly. You can study it systematically by studying it verse-by-verse, book-by-book, topic-by-topic, or theme-by-theme. The opposite of that is the old dip-and-skip method, where you just open up the Bible and put a finger down where you want to study. That won’t produce the kind of results God wants in your life.

5. Read the Bible over and over again. This simple tool will change your life. It’s amazing how much you can get out of a passage if you study the same passage over and over again and then come back to the same passage a few months later. The more you read a passage, the more you’ll get out of it.

There’s no better time than today to start studying the Bible for yourself. No matter how you choose to study, apply these five principles and you’ll get more out of whatever you study.

Talk About It

In what specific areas of your life do you believe God wants you to apply his Word today?

Do you have an accountability partner? If not, do you think having one would help you study the Bible more diligently?

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Get UP With God

We conclude GOD @ WORK WEEK with a little prayer that encapsulates everything we covered:

DEAR GOD,

We need your help at work. Help us to …

always put you first
pray, pray, pray
love, love, love
be humble
be diligent
be honest
be joyful
listen more than we talk
spread encouragement
never spread gossip
never grumble
never worry
rest

May we trust you with all our hearts,
never lean on our own understanding
and give you all the glory.

AMEN