Learnable Bible Study Podcast

Wisdom! The Cambridge dictionary describes wisdom as the ability to use your knowledge and experience to make good decisions and judgments. The book of James 3 in the Holy Bible tells us there  are two types of wisdom, one is demonic and the other is godly. Today let’s discover godly wisdom from James 3:17

So let's turn the bible to James 3:17

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

There are 8 attributes James uses to qualify godly wisdom

The success and posterity of a king is based on 3 things he should not do. Let's discover these 3 things as we look at Deuteronomy 17:14-20

Do not stay stagnant, get up.

Jealousy’s antidote! Have you ever been jealousy of a person before?   How did you overcome the jealous? Or are you still battling with the emotions of Jealousy? In today's study, we would look at a well known passage of scripture. Let’s turn the bible to Genesis 37.

In this passage, we see the family of Jacob that they are now receding in Canaan land the land God promised to Abraham's descendant.

Jacob had 12 sons. From our previous episode 094 and episode 095 we see that  Rachel has 2 sons for Jacob and their names were Joseph and Benjamin.

We have a free resource on our website titled “Learning the Acts of Gratitude”  you can either go to the resource page on the damselwrites/simplymo.co.uk website to download your copy or click on this link.

When we think or talk about lent, we normally see this as a time of giving up one thing or the other. In today’s study we would look at Luke 4:1-13

The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness where he gave up food for 40 days. At the end of the 40 days He was tempted by the devil and it is His reply that begins to show what is gained during a period of fasting.

When we weigh the things given up to the thing gained. We can begin to look at the time of lent as not a time of giving things up rather a time where we cultivate a deeper relationship with God. And a clearer path to take.

Are you good at waiting? And what do you do while waiting? Today we would be looking at Matthew 25:1-13

The text is a parable:

What is a parable? A parable is a story with an heavenly meaning

A parable is a succinct made up story designed to illustrate a lesson through comparison. Parables have human characters. When you hear the story, you can relate it to your own life. A parable conveys a message of truth 

Do not be distracted. Focusing on Jesus.

To be rich towards God is to invest in the worth of one's soul, to place importance on eternity. To look beyond one's self alone and cater for the needs of the poor in the capacity one has. The man who asked Jesus the question might have thought he had little but he could still be of help to another. And Jesus tells this parable, the rich man here has a lot and he still did not think of others or bless God.

Being rich towards God is not a measure of the quantity of money or resources one has, it is sharing with the poor out of whatever resources that one has.

Jesus' parable teaches us that we don't have to wait to become rich before we are generous but rather generosity is a state of mind. It is firstly attributing what one has to God’s provision and sharing with others who don't have.

How are you investing for eternity?

How do you approach the Bible? Want to understand its treasures? This episode will give you simple tools for digging deep into the Bible.

What type of thinker are you? Do you use logic or imagination or linear or lateral? Today we would explore a Samaritan man.

So let's dig in and turn the bible to Luke 17:11-19

Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, 10 men who were ill cried out to Him for help.  When Jesus saw them, He asked them to show themselves to the priest. The law in Israel was, when people are healed of leprosy they had to go to the priest who examines them and certify that they have been healed and can  return back to their family, friends and community.

As these men went to show themselves to the priest, they came to the realization that they were healed. O what a miracle and elation they must have felt. One of the men came back praising God and thanking Jesus for his healing. Jesus noted that the man was a Samaritan. Why was the nationality of this thankful man important? Jesus inferred that the one person that returned to give appreciation was the foreigner among the men who was healed. The Samaritan tribe was estrange to the Jewish people. Within the then Jewish community they perceived the Samaritans were not a pure race like the Jews.

These 10 men approached Jesus, having a knowledge of the things Jesus had been doing in the community. And knowing He had the capability to heal them. They also would have known He was a Jew.

I wondered why the other 9 Jewish men did not return to say thank you. Why was it only the foreigner among them that returned? Could it have been an issue of entitlement or deserving?

This grateful Samaritan man did not feel entitled to the miracle- that is why he returned to say thank you.

Entitlement means the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.

Access all that you have gone through this year and evaluate things. We take stock of the goals we set ourselves at the beginning of the year and then compare them to if we achieved or progressed on our way to achieve our dreams and goals. Are we where we want to be?

If we take a good look at ourselves, are we entitled to all that we are or have or don’t have?

But as we reflect, we also need to take inventory of how many meals have we had? How many liters of water did we drink? How many nights did we sleep? How many times did our heart beat? Taking stock is about the incoming and the outgoing. It should be about those things we received as well.

So what is our stature as we reflect on this year?

Thanksgiving is humbling ourselves to say we didn't do it all by ourselves. It is acknowledging that we had help. It is saying God you helped me and I am grateful for it. Not because I deserve it but because You choose to bless me.

The Samaritan man who went back to thank Jesus got additional blessing from Him.

Growing up my mum always said this “ A child who remembers to says thank you for the gift she received yesterday would  receive another blessing”

Whatever this year may have been to you, look laterally and give thanks. If you are reading or listening, then  you have received far more than you have given and so I would encourage you to return thanks to God.

God bless. And Have a happy new year.