Bible Study December 12, 2024

Mark 6:49-51 

“But when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded.”

The story of Jesus walking on water would serve as an excellent opening to any horror film. Think about it for a moment: the disciples are fighting strong winds as they try to make their way across the Sea of Galilee. Out of the darkness, they see something–– smaller than a boat but larger than a fish––moving above the water toward them. Not hovering, not gliding, not floating, but walking on a surface that should not be able to bear any weight. The only conceivable conclusion is that what is approaching is a spirit, a ghost––something or someone not human. And this unknown being is heading straight for them. Terrified really is the only appropriate response.

Of course, there is something very supernatural to what the disciples are witnessing. But it’s supernatural because the form they mistake for a ghost is not just fully divine but also fully human.

And yet, the disciples know this God-man, Jesus. Jesus, who is both their God and their friend. Yes, they have already seen him perform miracles, but they have also seen him eat fish, hammer wood, and laugh at their jokes. They know he was born in a small town to ordinary folk. They’ve heard his voice teach, drive out demons, and forgive sins. They know his voice. And they trust his words because what he proclaims is truth itself.

It’s Jesus’ voice, his pronouncement of who he is, that calms the disciples’ fears.

His voice still speaks today as he comes to us in the most astounding ways. Jesus loves nothing more than to continue to announce himself to us: “Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid.” Jesus speaks to calm our fears and give us the truth that we know him and are his.

When what you see is uncertain, unknown, or downright terrifying, trust your ears.

They will lead you to the voice of our God and our friend, Jesus.

Be Blessed Today

Bible Study December 11, 2024

Mark 5:36

“But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”

Sometimes, Jesus says things that are best described as simply impossible. Simple to say but impossible to do. A ruler of the synagogue’s daughter has been declared dead, and Jesus tells him not to be afraid, only to believe. How could anyone do this?

One thing that stands out about the ministry of Jesus is how little power he credits to death. He almost never even refers to it as death unless he is speaking of his own death on the cross. Jesus’ go-to name for death is sleep. We see that in this story as he finds people weeping and wailing over the death of this man’s daughter and says to them: “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping” (Mark 5:39).

We think the opposite of fear is peace, but many times, Jesus contrasts fear with faith. This is because true peace is born out of faith in Christ. Without faith, there is no peace. This is not a command to replace fear with a faith we have created in ourselves.

Jesus knows we can’t do that. So, instead, he speaks faith into the hearts of his fearful creation. Jesus doesn’t wait for the weepers and mourners to believe before he raises this little girl from the dead (after all, we are told that those hearing these words from Jesus laughed at him); instead, he does it in the presence of fear and doubt.

“Taking her by the hand he said to her, ‘Talitha cumi,’ which means, ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise.’ And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement” (Mark 5:41-42).

Jesus overturns death with a word. Fear has now been replaced by faith, and where there is faith, there is peace. Do not fear; only believe. Simple to say but impossible to do. The good news is Jesus is Lord of the impossible. His birth into a sinful and chaotic world speaks faith and peace into hearts that can muster up neither. He was born to make war with death and he has won. On the day of resurrection, he will take you by the hand and say, “Child of God, wake up.”

Be Blessed Today

Bible Study December 9, 2024

Matthew 8:26 

“And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.”

For a seasoned storm-chaser to fear for their life, the storm must be bad indeed. This was the case with the disciples in the boat on the Sea of Galilee. These experienced fishermen knew the water like the back of their hands, or at least they thought they did. But when evening came, the sharkia (Arabic for “shark”) winds for which Galilee is notorious swooped down and overwhelmed the little boat. They were caught in its jaws. At the mercy of the waves, the disciples’ fight-or-flight response kicked in, and they were tempted to give in to their most primal fears.

Fear works like this. It swoops in unexpectedly, threatening to undermine the objective truths of God’s promises. Caught in the jaws of our fears, our lizard brains kick in, and we are tempted to believe the most heinous of lies. “I may as well despair.” “God doesn’t love me.” “This storm is bigger and stronger than Jesus.” Like the disciples, we are brought to the end of ourselves and the only words we can muster are a paltry:

“Save us, Lord; we are perishing” (v. 25). Yet, mercifully, these words are enough.

Jesus’ response to his disciples’ fears was immediate: “And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?’ Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” The disciples were saved not because of their great faith but despite their lack of it. In fact, it was in their darkest hour that help arrived. His word, as always, proved to be truer and stronger than their anxieties. He rebuked the wind and the waves, casting the fear far from their hearts with his authoritative word.

When we were caught in the storm of our sin, God sent a manger-king to rescue us. This Word-made-flesh came in the darkest hour of night when all hope seemed lost: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone” (Isa. 9:2).

Jesus casts out the night in and around us, curb-stomps the monsters, and crushes the head of Satan. Caught in the grip of his grace, we are freed from the jaws of despair.

Be Blessed Today.

Bible Study December 7, 2024

Isaiah 26:3 

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

Peace is a fleeting thing in this life. Every day, we are faced with events and circumstances that attack the very notion that everything is right. Peace is here one moment and gone the next. It feels neither perfect nor durable. And even if you manage to grab some semblance of peace for a short time, there is the looming reality that peace in this life is finite because life itself is finite. Death is coming for all of us. How, then, can we ever have perfect peace?

To understand what the Prophet Isaiah is saying in 26:3, you must go back to chapter 25, verses 8 and 9: “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us” (Isa. 25:8-9).

 The perfect peace Isaiah is talking about comes from outside yourself. It comes from hearing the promise that God has swallowed up death, taken away all your sins, and saved you. It is a gospel peace. It is a gift given to you. This peace does hide itself when life is hard or when temptation wins. This peace has promised never to leave nor forsake you. This peace is a person. This peace was born in Bethlehem. This peace is Jesus Christ, the perfect one, and your perfect peace.

Be Blessed Today

Isaiah 9:6-7

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

The prophet Isaiah manages to squeeze into two verses the immeasurable hope of the world. The hope of peace? Yes. The hope of conquering fear? Yes. The hope of justice and righteousness? Yes. This hope of all people, of all times, everywhere is riding on the shoulders of a single man. This is not about a movement or institution. We are not banking on a revolutionary cause or governmental program. All eyes are on a child, a Son, who is born for us and given the name Jesus.

He is a Wonderful Counselor who, even as a twelve-year-old, amazed the teachers of the law with this understanding (Luke 2:47) and, as an adult, was the walking incarnation of wisdom. He is the Mighty God, fully divine with his Father, who “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7). He is the Everlasting Father in that he, with paternal love, beckons us to come to him, to receive from him compassion, forgiveness, and a place in the family of God. He is the Prince of Peace, who gives us peace “not as the world gives” (John 14:27), but a peace that “surpasses all understanding,” which guards our hearts and minds against all assaults from forces of evil (Phil. 4:8).

 Isaiah says this regal child will sit “on the throne of David,” a fact confirmed when the angel Gabriel said to Mary that her child “will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David” (Luke 1:32-33). Gabriel adds, “Of his kingdom there will be no end” (1:33), echoing what Isaiah had already said, “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end” (Isa. 9:7).

In Christ, we are made part of this kingdom, baptized into its heavenly citizenry. He reigns over us in love. His throne is one of grace. All our hopes are in him, and in him, all our hopes are sure and certain.

Be Blessed Today

Bible Study December 5, 2024

Isaiah 8:12-13 

“Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy.  Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.”

The goal of the Christian life is not to live fearlessly. Rather, it is to have the right kind of fear.

We live in a world rife with fear. The very air we breathe is thick with it. Everywhere we look, we hear people crying, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” It is the cry of the world, telling us that the universe will come crashing down if our preferred political candidate loses the race. It is the cry of our hearts, insisting that we won’t be okay if our social media post doesn’t perform well enough. It is the cry of the devil, whispering the toxic lie that our failures disqualify us from God’s love. Fear is everywhere: fear of judgment, fear of death, fear of failure, fear of war, fear of environmental disaster, fear of the past, fear of the future, fear of rejection. The list goes on.

The Christian response most often given to this problem is simple: Choose faith over fear. The problem, though, is that––left to our own devices––we’ll always choose fear over faith. Our default setting is not dependence but independence. In other words, faith does not come naturally.

Since the fall, our hearts are hard-wired to distrust God. There’s a reason “Fear Not” is one of the most common phrases in all of Scripture. Even the bravest Christian warrior will lose courage in the face of an enemy big and scary enough: enemies like sin, death, and the devil.

Bravery, then, is not the solution. So what is?

The prophet Isaiah says, “Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy; he is the one you are to fear…” (Isa. 8:12-13a). God is reassuring his prophet that the fears infecting the people hold no staying power because God is bigger and stronger than them. Moreover, in Jesus Christ, the one who has tied up the strong man (Matt. 12: 29), God has demonstrated his solidarity with us. Our fears died with Jesus at the cross. He is for us, and “if God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31b).

Be Blessed Today

Bible Study December 4, 2024

Psalm 112:6-8 

“For the righteous will never be moved; he will be  remembered forever. He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady;  he will not be afraid, until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.”

Psalm 112 can’t properly be understood apart from Psalm 111. That’s often the case in Scripture, but it’s especially true here because Psalms 111 and 112 form an acrostic based on the Hebrew alphabet. They are literally connected by letters.

Psalm 111 is about God’s faithfulness. Martin Luther cherished it and encouraged Christians to do the same. God is a God of his word. He will do what he says. His promise is sure. This is the foundation on which Psalm 112 builds.

Psalm 112 shifts our focus. It tells us about the person who trusts in the Lord, who holds God to his promises. This person is blessed. Nothing in the world compares to having God in his promises, which are fully embodied in his incarnate Son, Jesus, born of a virgin, and who lived, died, and rose for us. God’s promise––Jesus––is secure, and therefore the person who trusts in him is, too.

“In the end, it will all be good. And if it isn’t good, it isn’t the end,” is a phrase that catches the spirit of our verses. Through trust in the God who is unmoved concerning what he has sworn, the righteous are unmoved as well. They are steady. And they will triumph in the end, because they are God’s and God always wins in the end. God never forgets, he loves to remember the righteous, and so the righteous are never forgotten.

Your God is the God of Psalm 111. Psalm 112 describes you because it describes Christ, in whom your life is hidden through faith, in whom you now have life and live. The goal is not to make Psalm 112 true of you. The point is to realize Psalm 112 is already true of you. We don’t actualize these words. We get used to them. So take heart. Know your God. Know that he remembers you. He graciously sees you, and in him you will see the end, which will be good, and if it isn’t good, it’s not the end yet.

Be Blessed Today

Bible Study December 3, 2024

Psalm 46:1-3 

“God is our refuge and strength, a very-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way, Though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.’

As we pass through the various stages of life, the phrase, “You are in trouble,” carries a different weight. As children, we fear being “in trouble” with our parents or a teacher. Getting “in trouble” is an ongoing temptation during our teenage years. Then, into our twenties, thirties, forties, and beyond, being “in trouble” can mean financial or marriage woes, depression or addiction, along with a lengthy list of other unwelcome experiences in which trouble is a very present reality.

What we need, daily and desperately, is a “very present help in trouble” (Ps. 46:1). It sounds a bit awkward in English, but the Hebrew reads something like this: “a help in tight times he is greatly to be found.” In tight times, when the proverbial walls are closing in, we need that help that is “greatly to be found.” It is found, the psalm says, in “God [who] is our refuge and strength” (46:1).

 Here’s the rub, though: God is not really “the Answer” we are looking for. Give us a strategy. Give us a to-do list. Give us a workout routine, yoga postures, breathing exercises, something, anything that we can do to deal with our troubles. But as helpful or unhelpful as some of those strategies may be, the psalmist says, “No. God is our refuge. God is our strength.”

His strength comes to us as a lowly babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes. His refuge is given to us in his weakness.

 In Christ alone, the refuge of the troubled, the strength of the weary, we can say, “Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling” (46:2-3). We will not fear not because of something in us but because of someone for us. When walls are closing in, the outstretched arms of the cross stop them. When we are full of trembling, inside and outside, the empty tomb of our risen Lord of life preaches to us that no matter what, in Jesus, who came to us and who we now wait for again, all shall be well.

 Because Jesus is our mighty fortress, “a helper who can always be found in times of trouble” (EHV), rather than cowering in fear, we stand and lift up our heads because we are the beloved children of God.

God Bless.

Bible Study December 2, 2024

Normally I write these myself but I received these from Crosway and I thought I would share them during Advent 2024.

Joshua 1:9

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened; and do not be dismayed, for the  Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

People talk a lot about manifesting these days: manifest your best life. Set your mind against fear, and you’ll arrive at peace. Clear your head, meditate with consistency, wait patiently, and your hopes will fulfill themselves. Unfortunately, Joshua 1:9 is often read in manifestation mode. Just like the season of Advent, we take God’s commandment to be courageous as something to muster up rather than something revealed to us. So we pull out our Christmas trees, we decorate the house, we feign cheer and good tidings, just as we attempt to manifest our own courage.

But God isn’t commanding Joshua to pull courage from thin air. Instead, the courage God commands––and the end of fear––is based on the surety of the promises that precede it:

Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as  I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great  river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the  going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand  before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you (Josh. 1:3-6).

This isn’t the first time God has made this promise: “Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.” From the very beginning, despite their rebellion and their fear, God has been with his people. He has sought them out (Gen. 3:9), he has remembered them (Gen. 8:1), he has blessed them (Gen. 12:1-3), he has delivered them from slavery, and he has gone before them (Deut. 31:3).

In the midst of your uncertainty, your terror, and the fight that is life, God does the same for you as he did for Joshua: he does not leave you, nor does he forsake you. He doesn’t ask you to be courageous on your own. In this season of Advent, you are reminded that through a baby born in a manger, fear no longer has any power; you are his, and his strength is yours.

God Bless.