Introduction

• I Peter 5:8
• John 8:44
• The devil lies to deceive us!

“You are all there is.”

• (Pressure to think that believing in God doesn’t make sense.)
• Proverbs 1:20-29
• Psalms 139:13
• Romans 1:18-20 – This is an example of the design argument for the existence of God. The design we see implies the existence of a designer. If a bionic arm is obviously designed, how much more so a human arm?
• Psalm 139:14
• II Timothy 1:12
• Many important scientists were Christians, including Galileo Galilei, Johannes Keppler, Isaac Newton, and Michael Faraday. Science and religion are not irreconcilable.

“You are what matters most.”

• (Center life around humans instead of God.)
• Matthew 22:34-40
• Matthew 16:24
• Genesis 3:1-6 – Satan appealed to Eve’s desires. It is literally the oldest trick in the book!

“You can do whatever you want.”

• (Sow confusion about right and wrong, truth and error.)
• Isaiah 5:20-21
• Romans 1:25
• God exists. He is above man, and He makes the rules.
• Romans 1:29
• Acts 4:12 – Jesus is the way. There is no other religion that leads to heaven.
• Genesis 1:27 – God creates us male and female. It is not man’s choice, as transgender rights advocates would have us believe.

Conclusion

• I Peter 5:8-10

• Review of last week

  • Love God, love your neighbor

  • Sermon on the mount

    • Beatitudes

      • Poor in spirit

      • They that mourn

      • The meek

• Beatitudes, continued

  • Room for practical application

    • Only as practicality

    • Not meant for physical application

    • Spiritual – church vs. empires

  • Hunger and thirst – filled (Matthew 5:6)

    • Romans 1:16-17; John 6:35; Psalms 42:1-2; 63:1; 107:8-9

  • Merciful – obtain mercy (Matthew 5:7)

    • Willing to forgive

      • Matthew 6:14-15; 18:21-35

      • II Peter 3:9

      • James 2:13

    • Bring others to God’s mercy – Ephesians 2:4-7; Acts 8:30-35

Sin distorts, deceives, destroys, and dominates

• Luke 4:10-11 – Distorts God’s law
• Genesis 3:1-6 – Deceives us into thinking we can get away with sin.
• Romans 3:23 – Destroys our relationship with God.
• Dominates us where one sin may turn into two and lead us down the path of the wicked.

Will it give Satan a foothold?

• David: II Samuel 11:1-4

  • David had multiple changes to say no.

    • v1 – Didn’t go to war.

    • v2 – When he saw her bathing.

    • v3 – When he inquired.

    • v4 – When she arrived.

• Joseph: Genesis 39:6-12

  • Joseph said no immediately and repeatedly.

  • When she cornered him, he resisted.

  • He FLED!

• The repercussions

  • David: II Samuel 11:5-15; 12:19

    • Deceived Uriah into thinking that Bathsheba’s child is his own.

    • Murdered Uriah to cover up the sin of fornication.

    • The death of David and Bathsheba’s child.

  • Joseph: Genesis 41:37-41

    • Went to prison.

    • Interpreted the dreams of the baker and cupbearer.

    • Interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and because the second most powerful man in Egypt.

Will it bring reproach upon me?

• I Timothy 3:1-2

  • Reproach – not arrested, blameless, unrebukable

  • Blameless

• When people look at us, they should see someone worthy of the benefit of the doubt.

• How to be blameless?

  • Psalms 119:1-8 – Follow the law of God

Are we asking the question wrongly?

• Minimum requirement

  • How much can I put in and be pleasing to God?

  • Will 70% work?

  • What’s the least I have to do?

• Maximum permission

  • How much can I get out of the world and still be pleasing to God?

• Two examples

  • Daniel: Daniel 1:8-21

    • Didn’t want to risk eating and contaminating his body with the king’s food.

    • Gave the minimum to the king and gave everything to God.

  • Israelite man: Numbers 15:32-36

    • No work on the Sabbath

    • How do you define work?

    • A man was gathering wood.

    • What happened to him?

    • The presumptuous sin.

    • What’s his mindset?

    • What does it mean to be presumptuous?

What attitude should we have?

• To glorify God

  • I Corinthians 10:31

  • I Peter 1:14-15

  • Colossians 3:17

• We need to draw lines, so we do not allow our minds to become corrupt.

  • II Corinthians 10:3-5

  • Matthew 5:27-28

  • James 1:12-15

Summary

Examples

Let’s say you want to do a better job of loving your spouse (Ephesians 5:22-33). List some ideas that would help in that endeavor.

• Create good habits and stop bad ones

  • Weekend habits that involve both of you.

  • Listen first. Talk after thinking.

  • Patience.

  • Get involved.

• Let’s say you want to stop gossiping (Romans 1:29). Let’s list more ideas to help with this.

  • Think of yourself as a new person.

    • “I’m the kind of person who first thinks if this is good.”

    • “I’m the kind of person who doesn’t encourage gossip.”

  • Shape your environment so it will help shape you.

    • If there is a particular avenue where you are tempted to gossip, limit or remove it.

  • Create good habits and stop bad ones.

    • Go straight to the person involved instead of talking about them.

    • I Corinthians 13:4-7

    • Don’t rejoice in unrighteousness.

    • Proverbs 10:12

Put on … purity

• Romans 13:12-14; Ephesians 4:19-24; 5:3 – Which of these passages were written to Christians? All of them!
• We need to admit how much of a temptation and problem this is, even among religious people.

• Nehemiah 8:1-8 – When these people needed a spiritual revival, they went back to the word of God.

What is the Bible?

• A collection of 66 books

  • The word “Bible” comes from the Latin “Biblia” which simply means “books.”

• Written over 1500 years

• 40 different authors

• Inspired by God

  • II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:20-21

  • Apologetics Press: Behold the Word of God (PDF)

• Different styles and genres

• Two major parts:

  • Old Testament, 39 books (Genesis – Malachi)
    • History of creation and God’s dealings with man, specifically following the nation of Israel.
  • New Testament, 27 books (Matthew – Revelation)
    • Story of Jesus and the inspired people who carried His message to the world after His crucifixion.

How do I find my way around?

• Parts of a Bible reference: book, chapter, and verse
• There are five books with only one chapter: Obadiah, Philemon, II John, III John, and Jude

Which translation is best?

• Old Testament: Hebrew (some Aramaic)

• New Testament: Greek

• Example of translation issues:

  • II John 1:12 – Greek: stoma pros stoma (mouth to mouth)

• Translation philosophy: word-for-word vs thought-for-thought

  • Example: Romans 13:4

  • Recommended word-for-word translations:

    • NASB-1995 (New American Standard Bible, 1995 edition)

    • ESV (English Standard Version)

    • NKJV (New King James Version)

    • KJV (King James Version)

Which type of Bible should I use?

• Arrangement of the text

  • Verse-by-verse

  • Paragraph

  • Journaling or wide-margin Bibles

  • Daily reading Bibles

  • Parallel Bible

• Extra material added

  • Maps

  • Concordance

  • Reference Bible

  • Study Bible

  • Devotional Bible

  • Children’s Bible

• Features

  • Red-letter

  • Large print

  • Cover

  • Paper

  • Foreword/preface

  • Italics

  • SMALL CAPS

• A reference Bible is the primary workhorse. If you only get one Bible, get a reference Bible.

• Other types of Bibles are helpful for particular purposes or types of study.

Now what?

• Get a Bible!

  • Get a good translation as a reference Bible.

  • Christianbook.com

• Read it!

  • Fivedaybiblereading.com

• Study and apply it!

  • Local church

  • Benchley.org – What does the Bible say?