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Bible Memory collection
Christians differ over some details here, and Audela says so plainly. What all Christians hold in common is that Christ commanded both, and that both preach the gospel in visible form. Matthew 28:19 The risen Jesus sends his disciples to make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of…
Bible Memory collection
Every list of gifts in the New Testament comes with the same purpose attached: the good of the church. Learn these and you have the rule for reading the rest. 1 Peter 4:10 As each has received a gift, serve one another with it as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms. The word for…
Bible Memory collection
The New Testament has no category for a solitary Christian. These passages describe the church as a body, a household and a people, and each image carries a duty. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 As the body is one and has many members, so also is Christ, for in one Spirit we were all baptised into one…
Bible Memory collection
Faithfulness is God's character seen over time. These passages were written by people who had waited long enough to test it. Lamentations 3:22-23 In the middle of a book of grief over a ruined city, Jeremiah says the Lord's loving kindnesses do not cease, that his compassion does not fail, and…
Bible Memory collection
Every believer is sent, though not every believer is sent far. These verses tell you the task, the authority behind it, and the promise inside it. Matthew 28:18-20 All authority belongs to Jesus, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising and teaching them, and he is with us to the…
Chapter study
John 15 is spoken in motion. Jesus has just finished the Passover meal with His disciples, and John 14 ends with the words 'arise, let us go hence.' Many readers take that sentence as the close of a scene rather than…
Dig Deeper
John 15:7 If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you. Two ifs stand in front of the promise. Read the sentence as a whole and the will in ask what you…
Bible study
A verse-by-verse study of the most beloved psalm in Scripture Psalm 23:1 A Psalm by David. Yahweh is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing. Psalm 23 belongs to the collection of psalms attributed to David, Israel's second…
Dig Deeper
John 15:4 Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. The Greek verb meno means to remain, to stay, to continue in a…
Dig Deeper
John 15:2 Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Two verbs. The first removes, the second cleans or prunes. Both involve a…
Verse study
μείνατε ἐν ἐμοί, κἀγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν meinate en emoi, kago en hymin Greek Meno means to remain, dwell, or stay put; it is used throughout John's Gospel and epistles for continuous, settled relationship rather than a single…
Verse study
μείζονα ταύτης ἀγάπην οὐδεὶς ἔχει meizona tautes agapen oudeis echei Greek Agape here denotes love as costly commitment and action rather than mere emotion; the sentence structure sets an absolute superlative with no…
Verse study
ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή ego eimi he ampelos he alethine Greek Ego eimi echoes the divine self-naming of Exodus 3:14; ampelos is the ordinary word for grapevine; alethinos means genuine or real, as distinct from a…
Verse study
εἴρηκα ὑμᾶς φίλους eireka hymas philous Greek Philous comes from phileo, love marked by warm affection and companionship, distinguished from the more general agapao used elsewhere for love as command. The difference…
Verse study
The 'but' that connects the promise to what came before Verse 19 opens with 'but,' linking it directly to the paragraph just finished (vv.14-18), where Paul thanks the Philippians for their sacrificial gift, describing…
52 Week Journey
The Psalms are the only book of the Bible written mostly as prayer and song rather than as instruction addressed to us. They are Israel's own words to God, kept and sung for generations, and Jesus prayed them, quoted…
52 Week Journey
The church appears in the New Testament almost as soon as Jesus ascends, not as an afterthought but as the very thing he said he would build (Matthew 16:18). It is described with a cluster of images: a body, a…
52 Week Journey
The Bible begins with God saying it is not good for man to be alone, before sin has entered the world at all. Companionship is built into creation, not added as a remedy for the fall. From there, Scripture is full of…
Verse study
χωρὶς ἐμοῦ οὐ δύνασθε ποιεῖν οὐδέν choris emou ou dynasthe poiein ouden Greek Choris means apart from or separated from; the double negative construction (ou... ouden) intensifies the statement to an absolute nothing.…
Verse study
οὐχ ὑμεῖς με ἐξελέξασθε, ἀλλ' ἐγὼ ἐξελεξάμην ὑμᾶς ouch hymeis me exelexasthe, all' ego exelexamen hymas Greek Eklegomai means to select or choose out from among others; the same verb family used of God's election of…
Devotional
Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times; and a brother is born for adversity. WEB The proverb defines friendship by when it holds, not by how it feels. At all times includes the seasons that cost something: failure,…
Devotional
Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. WEB The proverb contrasts quantity with quality. Many companions can lead a man to ruin, while a single…
Devotional
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. WEB…
Devotional
John 13:14-15 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. WEB Jesus draws…
Devotional
1 Corinthians 3:11 For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. WEB Paul writes this in the middle of correcting a church split into factions around favourite teachers:…
Devotional
1 Peter 5:5 Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” WEB…
Devotional
2 Thessalonians 3:13 But you, brothers, don’t be weary in doing well. WEB This short instruction comes at the close of a letter dealing with confusion about Christ's return and some believers who had stopped working,…
Devotional
John 6:11 Jesus took the loaves; and having given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to those who were sitting down; likewise also of the fish as much as they desired. WEB The feeding of the…
Devotional
John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. WEB Jesus draws the…
Devotional
2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. From now on, there is stored up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me…
Devotional
Matthew 16:18 I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. WEB Jesus speaks these words right after Peter confesses him as the…
Devotional
Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend’s countenance. WEB Sharpening requires contact and resistance, not smooth agreement. The image is friction that produces an edge, applied to what one…
Devotional
James 5:14-15 Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the…
Devotional
Genesis 2:18 Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.” WEB Everything else in the creation account up to this point has been called good. This is the first…
Devotional
Leviticus 19:15 “‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness. WEB The command cuts both ways.…
Devotional
1 Corinthians 12:12 For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. WEB Paul is writing to a church quarrelling over which spiritual gifts…
Devotional
Acts 2:42 They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer. WEB The first church is described by four habits, and prayer is one of them. Not occasional prayer…
Devotional
2 Timothy 2:15 Give diligence to present yourself approved by God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, properly handling the Word of Truth. WEB Paul assumes it is possible to handle Scripture badly, which is why…
Devotional
1 Peter 4:10-11 As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms. WEB Peter assumes that every believer has received something worth putting to…
Devotional
Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for building up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear. WEB Paul does not stop at forbidding corrupt speech. He…
Devotional
Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent. WEB This is spoken to the church at Laodicea, a church Jesus describes as lukewarm just a few verses earlier. Rebuke this…
Devotional
Revelation 2:5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent. WEB This warning is…
Devotional
1 Samuel 17:45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of Yahweh of Armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have…
Devotional
1 Samuel 18:1 It happened, when he had made an end of speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with David’s soul, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. WEB Jonathan is Saul's son and the presumed heir to…
Devotional
Acts 2:42 They continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer. WEB Luke gives a short, concrete list of what the Jerusalem church devoted itself to right after…
Biblical concept
This is the title Jesus uses of himself more than any other. In Ezekiel the phrase simply means a human being, but in Daniel 7 one like a son of man comes with the clouds and receives an everlasting kingdom from the…
Biblical concept
In John 10 Jesus says he is the good shepherd, and gives one mark of it: the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He also says he knows his own and they know him, and that no one takes them out of his hand.…
Biblical concept
John opens his gospel by saying that the Word already was in the beginning, that the Word was with God, and that the Word was God. Three claims are made in one sentence: the Word is eternal, the Word is distinct from…
Biblical concept
John 1:14 says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and that we have seen his glory. Two things are held together: full deity from verse 1, and real humanity here. Nothing is subtracted from either. The verb dwelt…
Christian Living
Hebrews 10:24-25 Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the…
Christian Living
Titus 2:13 looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ; WEB titus 2 Paul reduces the future to a Person and calls it a blessed hope. The verse sits inside…
Christian Living
Matthew 28:19-20 Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you…
Christian Living
Revelation 21:3-4 I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will…
Christian Living
Matthew 25:46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” WEB matthew 25 Jesus spoke of judgement more plainly than anyone else in Scripture, and He did it as the One who came to…
Christian Living
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it; WEB ephesians 5 Paul sets the standard for marriage at a cross. The love commanded here is measured by…
Bible question
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. WEB Let God answer this before anyone comforts you or frightens you about it. 1 John…
Bible question
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? WEB God has already spoken about his will. Read that first, because…
Bible question
2 Peter 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves…
Bible question
Luke 9:23-24 He said to all, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake,…
Bible question
Psalms 68:6 God sets the lonely in families. He brings out the prisoners with singing, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land. WEB Hear God's answer to loneliness before any explanation of it. Psalms 68:5-6 A…
The Sunday Study
Verse-by-verse teaching with historical context, and a prayer to close. Nothing else in the email.