Simply Bible Magazine
—Page 6
Here's another magazine page with snippets and short articles.
THOUGHTS AND SPIRIT
Paul says, "No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit." (1Corinthians 2:11)
Paul believed that human beings have a spirit within them. That spirit knows their thoughts. So their mind, what they have thought, is kept in their spirit’s knowledge.
BLESSED ASSURANCE
The Bible assures us of three things...
1. We are spirits. Our bodies die but our souls last beyond death (Matthew 10:28, 1Corinthians 5:1-8).
2. We have a Creator who loves us. He has a plan that includes us (2Timothy 1:9-10, Ephesians 3:10-12).
3.He is a God of love, peace, mercy, grace, hope, joy, patience, justice, and virtue (Galatians 5:22, Philippians 4:4-8).
Compare this message of hope and assurance with the bleak world view of materialism. That view can be summed up in one sentence: In all reality, among all that exists, there is no spirit, no scheme, and no salvation.
REDEEM THE TIME
“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15)
Your lifetime is the time in which you have the opportunity to seek God and find him (Acts 17:27). Of course you do this with a view to human history, and with a view to eternity, but you do it now. You do it in this life while you have both life and opportunity (James 4:13-17).
In our short lifetime, the day that we call “now” is highly important. "In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." (2Corinthians 6:2 ESV).
A Poem About Time
To everything
there is a season,
A time for every purpose
under heaven:
A time to be born
and a time to die,
A time to plant
and a time to uproot,
A time to kill
and a time to heal,
A time to break down
and a time to build,
A time to weep
and a time to laugh,
A time to mourn
and a time to dance,
A time to cast away stones
and a time to gather them,
A time to embrace
and a time to refrain
from embracing,
A time to search
and a time to count as lost,
A time to keep
and a time to discard,
A time to rend
and a time to mend,
A time to be silent
and a time to speak,
A time to love
and a time to hate,
A time for war
and a time for peace.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).
Climate Change
Against the predictions of climate collapse, we have an assurance from God. Climate change may occur, but not to the extent that God's promise is broken:
✭ "While earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night shall not cease." (Genesis 8:22).
This doesn't mean that extreme weather events won't happen. They are nothing new. Joseph predicted a severe famine lasting seven years in Egypt (Genesis 41:30-31). Agabus predicted "a great famine over all the world" (Acts 11:27-28). Jesus himself said that while the world continues "there will be earthquakes and famines and troubles" (Mark 13:5-10).
But the seasons will continue. There may be climate change but not collapse.
BE BORN AGAIN
1 God reveals the greatest news ever.
BELIEVE
Jesus Christ our Lord, the Son of God...
(1) Died for our sins and was buried (Acts 2:23, Isaiah 53:5-9)
(2) Was raised from the dead (Acts 2:24-32)
(3) Was exalted to God's right hand (Acts 2:33-36, Philippians 2:9)
2 God issues commandments to mankind.
OBEY
The requirements after believing are to...
(1) Repent of sin (Acts 2:38, Acts 17:30)
(2) Confess Christ as Lord (Philippians 2:11 Romans 10:9-10 Acts 8:37)
(3) Be baptized (Acts 2:38 Matthew 28:19, Romans 6:4)
3 God makes magnificent promises
RECEIVE
The blessings and rewards God promises are...
(1) Forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38 1Peter 1:3-4)
(2) The gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38 Galatians 4:6)
(3) Eternal life (Romans 6:23 John 11:25)
Body and Soul
Jesus believed that human beings have both a physical and a spiritual nature. They have physical bodies and spiritual souls.
Jesus told one of the thieves crucified with him, "Today you shall be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43).
This cannot be explained sensibly, unless Jesus and the thief were going to survive the death of their physical bodies and be together as departed souls in a paradise apart from their dead bodies.
Jesus Christ made the matter black and white when he said, "Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell" (Matthew 10:28).
And My Heart Sings
At last I yield my stubborn will
To Jesus Christ who loves me still,
Though from his Way I strayed and lost
Eternal life at frightful cost.
I change my heart and now repent,
No longer on the hell path bent.
For now by faith I'm given wings,
To soar on high, and my heart sings.
(Ron Graham)
EDITORIAL
Matthew 9:9-13.
When Matthew, a new disciple of Jesus, put on a dinner for the Master, he invited his friends who were all tax gatherers and sinners. The religious leaders of Jesus’s day criticised Jesus for associating with these sinners. Jesus answered that sinners need compassion and a physician (Matthew 9:9-13 cf Luke 5:27-32).
Jesus considered sin to be a sickness. Of course he did not mean that sin is only a physical illness like one that affects the brain, liver, foot, skin, or some other member of the body. Sin is an illness seated not just in one’s body, but also in the spirit and it can kill both body and soul. Jesus is the only doctor who has the remedy for sin.
In Jeremiah's time the city of Jerusalem was characterised by falsehood, covetousness, immorality, and idolatry. The city was sick, and in danger of dying. Soon the rival city of Babylon would fall upon Jerusalem and destroy it.
God said,
"Is there no Balm in Gilead?
Is no physician there?
Why then is there no recovery
For the health of the daughter of my people?" (Jeremiah 8:21-22).