Watch out for jealousy.

Old Testament Jews: Jealous of Joseph, Acts 7:9

Jealousy played a part in many Bible stories

John 12:19

New Testament Jews: Jealous of Jesus and apostles

Matthew 27:18 – Pilate could clearly see their jealousy

Acts 5:12-17 – The Pharisees were jealous of the influence and crowd the apostles were drawing.

Acts 13:44-45

Acts 17:5

Us today: We must be careful of jealousy!

If someone is doing something good (especially of a religious nature), we should be happy for them!

We cannot be caught up in wanting credit for something.

I Corinthians 3:1-3 – A jealous mindset was holding them back!

Accept God’s plan.

Old Testament Jews: Rejected Moses

New Testament Jews: Rejected Jesus

Acts 7:52

Acts 2:22-23 – Peter also pointed this out.

Us today:

Accept God’s word.

Old Testament Jews: Persecuted prophets. Acts 7:51

New Testament Jews: Persecuted prophets.

Acts 6:8-9

Acts 7:51-60 – Stephen stoned to death.

Us today:

John 12:47

Hebrews 10:28-29 – The punishment will be great for those who trample underfoot the Son of God.

Introduction

Context

Reading the surrounding words and phrases to help understand a passage.

Examples:

Psalms 14:1 – The fool says, “there is no God.”

Matthew 7:1, 5, 15, 16 – How to judge rightly. Hypocritical judging is condemned. Not all judging.

I Corinthians 7:26-27

I Corinthians 15:32-34 – If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.”

I Corinthians 10:23 – All things are lawful, but not all things edify.

Acts 16:31 – Is belief all that is required for salvation?

Harmony

God does not contradict Himself. We must harmonize different related verses.

Examples:

Matthew 4:1-11 – Jesus called out Satan on misusing scripture.

Psalms 14:1 – Compare Romans 1:20.

Matthew 7:1 – Compare John 7:24.

I Corinthians 7:27 – Compare I Timothy 4:1, 3

I Corinthians 15:32 – Compare Ephesians 5:15-16

I Corinthians 10:23 – Compare I John 3:4

Acts 16:31-32 – Compare James 2:19-24. We are not justified by faith alone. I Peter 3:21

Things that will help:

Take time – II Timothy 2:15

Read – I Timothy 4:13

Think – I Timothy 4:15-16

Introduction

Satan is an actual being.

Job 1:7

He is not merely the personification of evil.

The name Satan means “adversary.”

For us to call attention to him

I Timothy 2:14

James 1:14-16 – Sin has a way of deceiving us!

Hebrews 3:13

II Corinthians 11:12-15; 2:11 – Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. He uses distraction and deception to tempt us.

I Peter 5:8 – Satan prowls like a lion. He is looking for easy targets.

Luke 22:31-32, 3 – Satan wants me personally! He was able to even infiltrate the apostles.

For us to discover that our willpower is his weakness

Luke 4:13

Satan can’t force us to do anything! James 4:6-10

I Corinthians 10:13

Ephesians 6:11, 16; 4:26-27 – Don’t let anger be an opportunity to sin.

Romans 16:20

Hebrews 2:14

For us to remember that he is doomed

Revelation 20:10-15 – Satan was included in the list of those to be punished!

Matthew 10:28; 25:41 – God is the one who can send souls to hell. Satan is one of the inmates, not the warden!

I John 5:14; 4:4

John 11:1-5, 43

We must accept the proof about Jesus

John 11:38-45

Jesus prayed with the intent of influencing witnesses of the resurrection (compare John 11:4).

Jesus intentionally delayed travel to give the miracle more impact.

John 11:46-53 – The Pharisees were clearly not interested in the truth.

Resources to improve our faith:

The Bible, especially the gospels.

ApologeticsPress.org – Behold the Lamb of God

We should appreciate emotions without letting them control us.

John 11:32-37 – It’s okay to cry!

John 11:7-9, 14-16 – Thomas was saying that if they can’t keep Jesus safe, he is willing to go die with Him. Thomas was willing to push past his own fear!

We ought to trust in Jesus as our hope.

John 11:25-26 – Jesus is our hope!

Jesus is the one who can help us when others simply cannot – beyond the grave.

If Lazarus could talk to us now, what would he say?

The biggest, most important blessing from God is eternal life through Jesus!

James 1:2-4

To trust in God (because you can’t count on anything here!)

Ecclesiastes 9:11-12

Life on earth is vain if we leave God out of the equation.

Matthew 6:19-21

I Timothy 6:17-19 – Material riches are uncertain. We must trust in God!

Psalms 33:8-22

Romans 8:18, 38-39

I need to address some issues in my family

Ephesians 6:4; Titus 2:4

Proverbs 21:9; 17:25

II Peter 1:5-8 – These are all qualities we should work to increase.

Let’s use the extra time we have to strengthen our families!

The importance of being prepared

James 4:13-15 – “You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”

Luke 12:16-21

I Thessalonians 4:16-17

I Thessalonians 5:2-3 – We don’t know when the Lord will return!

God has told us what is coming, but we don’t know when.

Matthew 24:37-39; II Peter 1:5 – People were not prepared for the flood, despite Noah’s teaching.

II Peter 3:3-7

What will we feel like the moment after the Judgment takes place?

II Peter 3:10-11

John 2:13-17

Jesus and love are always in conflict with Satan and sin.

Matthew 4:8-11, 17

Jesus was never about tolerating sin. He was against sin from the beginning!

John 8:34-36

Acts 26:15-18

James 4:4

I John 2:15 – Don’t love the sinful things of the world!

I John 5:2-3

We need to be like Jesus and condemn sin.

Jesus never made conflict for the sake of conflict.

Truth must always be prioritized.

Mark 8:38

Over relationships

Matthew 10:32 – Jesus is more important than all other relationships.

Luke 11:27-28

Over supposed experts

Over decorum

Luke 7:36-39

Luke 11:37-38 – Jesus broke decorum to start a teaching opportunity.

Luke 8:1-3 – Women were involved in teaching, despite this being against cultural norms.

We have to thicken our skin enough to stand for the truth.

Acts 15:1

Galatians 2:11

Matthew 19:9; Romans 1:26-27; Ephesians 5:4; I Timothy 6:10 – Many of Jesus’ teachings are controversial today!

Psalms 78:1-7

Book: So the Next Generation Will Know

Show the connection between God and good thinking

I Thessalonians 5:21; Isaiah 1:18

John 7:45; Mark 12:37 – Jesus’ reasoning could not be refuted.

John 3:1-2

John 20:30-31

“Generation Z is the least religious of all generations…”

Many young people report that they have left their faith because of science and evolution.

Many resources are available from ApologeticsPress.org.

Live like Christ yourself

John 2:6

Deuteronomy 6:7, 5, 13, 17 – We have to live like Christ and be good examples to our children and grandchildren.

I Corinthians 11:1

Hypocrisy in religion is a huge problem in the world.

Stimulate the challenging of their faith

Proverbs 13:20; James 1:2-4 – It’s okay for our faith to be questioned!

Acts 16:1

Joel

Written by Joel, who we don’t know much about. There is much disagreement about the date of writing, anywhere from 900-350 B.C.

Joel 1 – God was bringing destruction on Judah. The locusts may or may not be figurative.

Joel 2 – God calls for repentance. God promised to restore the people if they would repent.

Joel 3 – God pronounces judgment on the nations. These nations may be figurative here, with Israel being spiritual Israel and Tyre and Sidon being those who are enemies of God’s people.

Joel 3:10 – See Isaiah 2:4. God’s people were to prepare for a spiritual battle.

Joel 3:18 – See Ephesians 1:3.

Joel 3:20 – Spiritual Judah can never be destroyed!

The church doesn’t really grow successfully if we only increase in numbers. We must also strengthen and build each other up.

Factors that cause the church to grow:

Loyal to divine authority

Romans 1:16; Acts 8:4

Acts 4:18-19; 5:19 – Peter and John were loyal to divine authority.

Colossians 3:19

II John 1:9

Diligent in teaching

Acts 2:42

Acts 7 – Stephen was so steadfast in preaching that he was stoned to death.

Acts 8:5, 12 – Philip was steadfast in preaching.

Paul suffered and worked much to grow the church through teaching.

Consistent in practice

Acts 2:42; 8:4

II Thessalonians 2:13

Purity in life

Without purity, others will see our hypocrisy and we will accomplish nothing toward God.

Romans 6:4

I Timothy 5:22

II Corinthians 6:14-16

I Corinthians 6:19-20

Ephesians 5:25

Unity in service

Acts 2:46; 4:32

The apostles were of different backgrounds, but they all loved the same God. We are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:29

Liberal in giving