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The Bible Study Webpage

The purpose of this site is to provide you with information and Web links to supplement your Bible Study for the week. Hopefully, you will find this useful in your study. Any comments or suggestions to make this page better are welcome.

GLAD YOU FOUND US! We hope that these lessons provide a good source of Bible Study for you each week. Especially if you are a Bible Study teacher and use these lessons in your church, somewhere around the country, let us know. We send a site updated distribution note each week when the newest lesson is online. We'd be happy to add any of you, teachers or readers of the lessons to our distribution each week. Teachers, we hope that you find this to be a helpful resource in developing a quality lesson for your classes each week! Let's remember to keep each other and our classes in our prayers that God will richly bless our studies each week.

New Studies

What's Up with Christ Coming Down?
When people start talking about the end of the world, many people start rolling their eyes. I can recall seeing many signs along the sides of roads saying that Christ is returning soon. The signs have been there for many, many years and show signs of age. Many people have predicted the end of the world, and so far, they've all been wrong. When people start throwing dates out there, their credibility will be lessened. I recall teaching youth in the late 80s and two young men had decided to forego college, because they read a book and the world was going to end shortly after they were out of school. I also remember hearing of groups of people who sold all they had to go stand on a mountain, waiting for the end of the world. It would make a fascinating 'Where are they now' show, wouldn't it?

What About the Antichrist?
What do we know about the antichrist? This term has become fairly familiar in movies and in many books. Some people think it originated from the book of Revelation, but the actual word 'antichrist' only shows up in 1 John 2 (verse 18). However, the book of Revelation makes several references to the antichrist (as the beast). Throughout history, many people have guessed the identity of the antichrist. Some of the guesses have included U.S. Presidents or world political leaders, the Pope, Hitler, Bill Gates, the Beatles and many others. To this point, all have been wrong.

Who's Really in Charge?
You've seen the old movies or cartoons, with an alien or a group of aliens who come to earth and say "Take me to your leader". I guess even the aliens know that there is a certain person that they need to talk to. Truly, there needs to be someone who is in charge, ultimately. This isn't the figurehead leader, but the one who is truly responsible and carries the authority to make things happen. In multiple headed organizations, I often wonder how decisions are made. Some things can be done by committee, I suppose, but in the end, there needs to be someone in charge.

Extraordinary Wisdom for Everyday Living - If Your Money Could Talk
Where do we spend our money? How responsible are we with our money? There is the danger of getting too reliant upon our money and investments and savings - thinking that we can handle whatever comes our way - all the while relying upon ourselves and not on God. Even believers can fall into this trap. We say we believe that God provides for our needs and can meet our needs, but in reality, we only say that as long as we have the wherewithal to meet our needs on our own - who do we trust, really? And, then on the other extreme, there are those who pay no mind to money - they act as if God will take care of all of their needs, so they do not need to worry about financial responsibility.

Extraordinary Wisdom for Everyday Living - Word Power Made Wise
This lesson is about the words we use. We all know the expression "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me". Chances are you heard that several times on the playground at school. You probably hear the phrase less as and adult, unless you work around the kind of people that still operate on the 6th grade humor level (where phrases like "I am rubber, you are glue, what you say bounces off me and sticks to you" abound - yeah, take that!). There are probably a couple of extremes regarding the sticks and stones statement. Some people often have sharp knee jerk reactions to words - taken too harshly and creating a big deal when there may or may not have been any wrong intention. Some people seem to be able to take any kind of verbal abuse, with little apparent impact. On the other side, there are those who use their words as weapons to harm another person. It may not even be intentional, but they forget the power of words.

Extraordinary Wisdom for Everyday Living - How to Storm-Proof Your Home
How devastating are storms? We may not have understood the power of a severe thunderstorm or a flood or a tornado or a hurricane. We don't seem to have an appreciation for storms until we've been through one. Some have no idea of what a tornado can do - and think it will never happen to them, but when it comes close, they see that they need to do something. In schools they do drills - I've heard of one school that was doing a tornado drill and part of the school thought it was a fire drill, so they went outside, while the others went to interior halls to protect themselves. At least they knew they were supposed to do something, I guess.

Extraordinary Wisdom for Everyday Living - Three Rules for Working Smart
You've probably heard the phrase about working smarter rather than working harder. At least that thought is prevalent in my job. Usually when my management starts talking about working smarter, it means that there will be more work and fewer people to do it and our schedule won't shift accordingly - oh, and the quality of the work still needs to be as high as before. So, um, work smarter (whatever that means). There are a lot of people who put many hours into their jobs, but seem to accomplish very little. It's not as if they loaf and look for something else to do, but their efforts, however well intended, are often misguided or aimless. They may work for weeks on a product that nobody requested or wanted. It seems like working a little smarter would have been a very good idea, if they only knew what that meant.

Extraordinary Wisdom for Everyday Living - Your Ticket to Real Success
What is wisdom? Some people would say that wisdom is scholarly knowledge and learning. Certainly, there is something to be said about the 'wisdom of the schools'. However, there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. For example, it is more that the knowledge of what is true or right, but wisdom involves acting on that knowledge. In several areas of learning, I think you can find people who have studied in schools and have become very knowledgeable about a variety of things. They may be in all types of professions, knowing the things that need to be done. However, their application of that knowledge is often lacking.

Unlocking Your Best Relationships: Be Ready to Forgive
This lesson at least partially speaks of an issue that many people have a very difficult time dealing with - forgiveness. Chances are, somebody has done something to wrong you in the past. It may have been recent, or many years ago. In some cases, this wrong may have severed a relationship. Forgiveness or the lack thereof, is one of the biggest issues that many deal with. Many times, I've seen people who have left their lives be governed by a lack of forgiveness towards other people. It seems that they think of what happened to them every day, and it impacts the quality of their lives. Often, the 'perpetrator' gets past it and moves on with life. So, the lack of forgiveness may actually have a larger impact on those holding on to it, rather than those who are guilty.

Unlocking Your Best Relationships: Be Trustworthy
Just as we are looking for trustworthiness in a salesman, we are also looking for trustworthiness in our relationships. Who really wants to establish any type of relationship with someone they cannot trust? In our deep relationships, we may often share things that we are dealing with - does anybody want those things aired to the community? Even in failed relationships, it is important to protect the integrity of the other party, as much as possible. Are we as sincere and trustworthy in our relationships as we are called to be?

Unlocking Your Best Relationships: Communicate
This lesson will speak to communication. How important is communication in your relationships? Obviously, if there is no communication, relationships, however strong, just begin to crumble. And, it is very difficult to begin relationship if communication does not take place. Sometimes, it involves us having to do something that may be very uncomfortable. Some people just are not very communicative. They may have a lot of thoughts inside their head, but they are very reluctant to share with others - and this often results in very weak relationships. It can sap the life out of a marriage relationship, or any other close relationship. As Christians, if we don't spend the time communicating with God, it will impact that relationship.

Unlocking Your Best Relationships: Appreciate
In the area of relationships, I think most people could use help. At least I know I could. Personally, I do a pretty good job of establishing relationships with most people and maintaining friendships, but there are times where the relationships seem to fall to the side. It may be that a person changes jobs or moves to another neighborhood, city, state or even country. Absence and distance make relationships more difficult to maintain, unless everyone really works at it. We sometimes end up taking the relationship for granted, thinking that we can step away and it will just continue on its own. There are also other people whom I've had a great difficulty in establishing a relationship, for a variety of reasons.

Exploring Perseverance
What is perseverance? When life is going good, you don't hear much about perseverance, but when things start going bad - you hear it a lot. Perseverance can be thought of as being patient and able to endure. There are some people who much prefer one season of the year to another. For example, for those who love spring, they have to endure winter to get to spring. They know it is coming, so that helps things a lot. How much does that play into your ability to persevere? I think that a lot of people go through hardships and would continue to be faithful, if they thought that the hardship would end (and they knew when). When we lose hope, many people tend to look for the way out, rather than the way through.

Alive With Power
What do you think of when you think of power? Some definitions include the ability to do or act; capability of doing or accomplishing something. Power also implies more than just the ability to do something, but the authority to do it. One of the terms that is thrown around my workplace is RAA - Responsibility, Accountability and Authority. Too often, folks are given the responsibility and accountability, but not the authority. I work with a very sharp group of folks who are assigned to provide direction for a very large program. We often come up with a workable solution, but then find we are unable to make it happen. This is not what power is.

It's All About Love
Familiarity often leads us to take things for granted. If you live on a beach and see the ocean each morning, you may begin to lose perspective of what a beautiful site that is. You almost forget that it is there. Living in St Louis, I've seen the Arch several hundred times - driven past it - saw it in the skyline - I don't often notice it anymore. People who have never been to St Louis are amazed by the Arch. When I really think about it and go down to see it - I am more amazed as well.

Where God is at Home
What do you think of when you hear the phrase "make yourself at home"? If you are having a visitor, do you expect them to feel comfortable and act as if they are part of your family, or would you expect them to act however they acted at their house? Obviously, if someone who stays in their pajamas all day long comes to your house and makes themselves at home, you wouldn't expect them to dress down to pajamas, would you? You'd probably expect them to hopefully feel more comfortable and at ease, while still fitting into what happens in your house. I suppose this may range from feeling free to get something out of the refrigerator or sit wherever they want to looking in all of your medicine cabinets, etc.

The Model
Everyone has heard of models. Models can mean many different things, depending on their context of use. We all know of models that model clothing styles. You'll see them in department store catalogs and in other advertisements on television and in the newspaper.

The Messengers
You may have heard of messenger pigeons. They were often used as military messengers, based largely on their homing ability, speed and altitude. In World War I, messenger pigeons were used by the French and US Armies. It is said that in October 1918, a pigeon delivered a crucial message, despite having been shot through the wing. This message, found in the capsule hanging from his shattered leg, saved around 200 US soldiers in the "Lost Battalion".

The Message
When you were a child, did you ever play that game where everyone was in a circle and one person started by whispering to the person next to them and then it continued around the circle until it came back to the originator? Very rarely did the message at the end stay as intended at the beginning. There always seemed to be a kid that would start it as a tongue twister, so it was probably lost by the time it got to the third person. Sometimes there was the kid who purposely mumbled (either at the start or along the way), just to see how it came back. The message got propagated, but it changed along the way.

The Motive
How many times have you done the right thing for the wrong reason? My guess is it probably much more than you or I realize. I think we all can think of times when we've done something good and we looked forward to the accolades we received. There is nothing wrong about being recognized for doing a good job, but if the only reason we do something is to be recognized - that becomes wrong.

Breakthrough in Confidence
The 23rd Psalm is perhaps the most well known passage in the Bible, at least for many people. It is quoted often in churches and at other times. Growing up in the church as I did, hearing hymns being sung week after week and scripture passages read week after week, I probably grew very accustomed to them. I know I didn't know all the words, but I suppose I got close with words that sounded the same, but probably had a much different meaning, if any meaning at all.

Breakthrough in Judgment
Why do they prosper? We look at the newspapers and TV news each day, and we seemingly see time after time where the wicked and evil people prosper. Their businesses seem to thrive and they seem to almost be blessed by God, rather than judged. You have to admit that sometimes, it is disheartening. You see people that seem to be seeking God that are unsuccessful. Jobs are lost. Illnesses hit families. They experience other types of problems in life. Has God forgotten them?

Breakthrough in Forgiveness
How important is forgiveness in life? Lack of forgiveness takes the toll on one whether they are the one who needs to forgive or the one who needs to be forgiven. If you are the one who has been wronged, you will find yourself as a prisoner to lack of forgiveness if you refuse to forgive, regardless of whether the offender asks or deserves forgiveness. If you are the offender, you know the power of guilt and remorse due to the offense you committed. All of us know what it is like to fail somebody and what it is like for someone to fail us.

Breakthrough in Focus
When we do we need focus in life? If you've ever worn glasses or contacts, you've likely been to an eye doctor that goes through several different lenses for you - in order to find the eyeglass prescription that best fits you. That prescription is different for most people, but the result should be the same - that when fitting properly, you can see things in focus.

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