Seasonal

Bible Studies for Advent


Bible Studies for Lent







For Thanksgiving



For Pentecost


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Paul's Fourth Missionary Journey

This was last week's study, which I forgot to post. My apologies to all. It was certainly interesting, looking at how the world and the church were changing between Paul's release and his death. I found some references that suggested Paul really did make it to Spain eventually too, and even to England. Wouldn't that be cool? I suspect I should amend the study to include Spain, given how sure the early church was. But England? That's quite a trek, and England has lots of other rumors to build on anyway.

(26) Paul’s Fourth Missionary Journey When Paul first planned to go to Rome, he hoped to continue to Spain as well (Read Romans 15:23-24). His plans may have changed when the trip to Rome became a prisoner’s journey rather than a traveler’s itinerary. Clement claims Paul did make it to “the extreme West,” but we have no letters written to Spain by Paul. We do have letters covering all the region between Judea and Rome. We've looked at Philippians, written while in pri…
Read more

Revelation - John's Description of Heaven

4: Revelation 4 & 5: John’s description of Heaven

Imagine trying to describe something that can’t be described. Heaven must surely be beyond our power of description, and beyond the author, John’s.

Comic artists render action with symbols familiar to all our children – star-shapes with “POW” and “BAM” written on them imply somebody being hit. “BANG” is usually a gun. Light-bulbs drawn over heads imply inspiration and ideas.

The symbols John used in his writing would have been just as familiar to early readers, and to readers intimately acquainted with the Old Testament. When we read without the same understanding of the symbols, we might expect to struggle to understand – just as an alien might struggle to understand our children’s comic books.

John has just written Jesus’ letters to the churches. The rest of the book might be expected to give an explanation of what the warnings and promises were all about.

The story starts with images very reminiscent of the temple in Jerusalem, and s…
Read more

New Testament Tales - Jesus' Journeys

Image
Jesus' Journeys
1. How far did Jesus’ family travel from Bethlehem to Egypt?
2. How far did they travel from Egypt to Nazareth?
3. How far from Nazareth was Jesus baptized?
4. Where did Jesus go after his baptism?
5. Where did Peter’s family live?
6. Where did Jesus first recorded miracle take place?
7. Where did Jesus meet a woman at a well?
8. Where did Jesus meet the Gerasene demoniac?
9. Where did Jesus preach on the mountain?
10. Where did Jesus calm the sea?

Nazareth was in the North-eastern part of Israel, in Galilee. Bethlehem and Jerusalem were in Judea, and Samaria lies between Galilee and Judea. The “best” route from Galilee to Judea would follow the Jordan river on the Eastern edge of Samaria, since Samaritans and Jews didn’t like each other. Nazareth to Bethlehem was about 68 miles, at least two days’ journey. From Bethlehem to the nearest stopping place in Egypt was probably about 100 miles, or around four days’ journey.

John baptized in the River Jordan, which flows from the Se…
Read more