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Bible Study

John Bible Study, Day 28: Don’t Fight Against God

Today’s passage: John 15:18–John 16:5

Focus verse: “They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.” (John 16:2)

Too many people do not see God at work and instead oppose those who follow him in fresh ways.

Jesus warns his followers about what awaits them. First, their church (that is, their synagogue) will expel them. We’ve already seen this threatened in Day 16, “Rule Follower” and Day 22, “Faith or Fear?”

Beyond that, people will kill them. Religious persecution is what Saul (later called Paul) does in the first part of the book of Acts before he encounters Jesus and goes all in to serve his Savior.

These opponents—these persecutors of faith—will do so in the name of their religion. They assume they’re acting in service to God, but their actions oppose him instead.

This means these killers aren’t coming from the world but from within God’s family. Though we should expect persecution from secular society when we go all in to follow Jesus, opposition shouldn’t come from among God’s other children. Yet it does.

Throughout history, this internal persecution happens whenever a new move of God occurs. The biggest movement of God was Jesus coming to fulfill the Old Testament law.

Many of the Jews don’t see this, and so they oppose him. They end up killing him. He’s a martyr and a human sacrifice—one to end the need for all sacrifices. 

This pattern of religious conflict continues from the time of Jesus. Consider the Reformation. In that era, Christians opposed other Christians. Christians hated other Christians. And Christians killed other Christians. 

Another sad time of Christian versus Christian hostility happened at the birth of the Charismatic movement. This occurred in the early 1900s and again at its rebirth in the 1960s.

Each time God is at work doing a new thing. Each time, many of his people mount a significant opposition. And God’s messengers suffer as a result.

Don’t label the people who follow God into his new ways of doing things as heretics and oppose them.

Instead, we’d be better to heed the words of Gamaliel who tells the religious leaders, “Don’t bother with them. If they’re doing this on their own, they’ll fail. But if it’s of God, we can’t stop them—and could end up fighting against God himself” (Acts 5:38–39).

That is, don’t fight against God and the work he is doing.

When we peer into the past, we easily spot the errors of people who missed seeing God’s movement. It’s much harder to spot God at work when we’re living in the middle of it and people align as being for or against it.

But instead of removing the people we disagree with from our church, we should check and see if God is at work. 

Instead of arguing, let’s listen.

Questions:

  1. When have you opposed other Christians in the name of religion? 
  2. What can you do to not repeat this mistake? 
  3. When have other Christians opposed or persecuted you? Was it justified?
  4. How do you react when the world persecutes you?
  5. What must you do to listen and not argue?

Discover how the early church dealt with disagreement in Acts 15:1–21. What insights can you glean from this passage?

Read the next lesson or start at the beginning of this study.

Tips: Check out our tips to use this online Bible study for your church, small group, Sunday school class, or family discussion. It’s also ideal for personal study. Come back each Monday for a new lesson.


Read more in Peter’s new book, Living Water: 40 Reflections on Jesus’s Life and Love from the Gospel of John, available everywhere in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Categories
Christian Living

What Is God’s Perception of You?

How We See Ourselves May Differ from How Our Heavenly Father Sees Us

I was recently reminded that God’s perception of us can be quite different from our own self-perception.

The pressures of life overwhelmed a friend. One concern, a second, and then more conspired to weigh her down and steal her joy. She emailed me with a list of worries and asked me to pray.

Her concerns included the status of her job and her husband’s, finances, possible repercussions in standing up for what is right, her children’s struggles, and a lack of clarity over critical future decisions. Her message was full of worry and despair. And it surprised me.

It seemed out of character. I see her as a strong woman, full of faith and abounding in courage. This is far different from what her email portrayed.

Yet as I considered her situation more fully, I realized my lofty perception of her is misaligned from the reality I sometimes see in her life. There have indeed been seasons when she has worried and fretted over what is and what might be. Through these times we prayed, and God provided.

I laughed at myself over how wrong my perception was, but then God told me that my assessment of her as a strong woman, full of faith and abounding in courage was correct.

“You see her as I see her,” my Heavenly Father gently whispered in my ear. That gave me joy . . . and much hope.

Quite simply, God sees us differently than we see ourselves. Never forget that.

Gideon

This reminds me of the story of Gideon in the Bible. God sent an angel to Gideon, who at the time was hiding in a winepress has he tried to thresh his wheat. God’s messenger called Gideon “a mighty warrior.” This surprised Gideon. Not only was he living in fear, but he saw himself as the least in his family.

God’s perception of Gideon was quite different than his own.

Yet Gideon seriously doubted what God called him to do. Despite his lack of faith in the beginning, Gideon obeyed God in the end and did what God told him to do. And Gideon prevailed through God’s provisions (Judges 6-7).

As with Gideon, we can view things from a human perspective, considering the tangible evidence around us and draw one set of conclusions. Or we can consider things from a spiritual perspective and reach a far different conclusion, one more closely aligned with Papa’s.

God’s Perception

God gave me his perspective for my friend. Though it didn’t match what I could see in the physical world, it did align with what I perceived from a spiritual perspective.

God’s perception is the one that matters.

This makes me wonder about God’s perception of me. I suspect he’s much kinder and more generous of who I am than my own critical self-assessment.

More importantly what’s God’s perception of you? Does he offer you grace and mercy while you pile up judgment and condemnation that weighs you down? Though we could have an inflated self-perception, I suspect most followers of Jesus think less of ourselves than we ought to.

God’s perception of us is what matters. We can count on it.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

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Visiting Churches

The Greek Orthodox Church: Discussion Questions for Church 75

Greek Orthodox sits fourth on my mental list of churches to visit. Like Anglican Catholic, I’ve never talked to anyone who went to a Greek Orthodox church.

Historically, I understand they split from the Roman Catholic Church about a thousand years ago. 

Consider these three discussion questions about Church 75.

1. What little I know about Greek Orthodox practices comes from what I’ve seen in movies and television. This is hardly an ideal source of information.

In what ways does the media incorrectly shape our views of spiritual practices we don’t know?

2. Inertia keeps me from visiting a nearby Greek Orthodox church. An element of fear over the unknown also conspires to keep me away.

How might inertia or fear hold us back from what God wants to teach us?

3. A degree of church-visiting fatigue keeps me stagnant. Similar issues may keep others home on Sunday and thwart them from finding a faith community to plug into.

Are we part of a supportive faith community? If not, what should change?

[Read about Church 75 or start at the beginning of our journey.]

Get your copy of More Than 52 Churches today, available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Categories
Christian Living

Celebrating Scripture’s Other Psalms

Discover More Psalms in the Bible from Exodus through to Revelation

Paul writes to the church in Colossae that they are to teach and admonish one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in their heart to the Lord (Colossians 3:16).

He writes a similar sentiment to the church in Ephesus: “Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:18–19).

The book of Psalms feels like an ideal place to start this quest.

Some people think of the Psalms as a collection of Hebrew poems. I like that. Others call it a prayer journal. I like this perspective too. Just as our prayers cover a range of styles and emotions, so do the Psalms.

We can have Psalms (and prayers) of praise, lament, thanksgiving, and so forth. Some Psalms burst forth as a corporate hymn, while others seep out slowly as a personal prayer of anguish.

Whatever our mood or perspective there’s likely a psalm that captures our emotion and our heart. It’s no wonder, then, that people over the centuries have so treasured the Psalms.

The range of content addressed by the Psalms covers a wide array of themes.

Bible scholars attempt to classify the Psalms by topic, but there’s little agreement in their groupings. The labels they use include hymns, laments, thanksgiving, praise, compassion, liturgy, prophecy, petition, and so on.

The Bible’s Other Psalms

Yet not all the Bible’s psalms reside in the book of Psalms. Other psalms occur throughout Scripture from Exodus to Revelation. This book collects these randomly located passages to make it easy to find them and to immerse ourselves in them.

Compiling this list of these other psalms scattered throughout Scripture has been a time-consuming yet stimulating task. To create this list, I looked for passages of song and poetry that provided personal or community prayer and worship.

This book contains those passages, with sixty-seven more biblical psalms for us to contemplate, commiserate, or celebrate. As we do, may God receive our attention and adoration.

Some of these psalms appear in paragraph form instead of as poetry. This is because of the translation used, not because these passages aren’t biblical poetry. Regardless of the format, embrace each one as a psalm.

Given that Psalm 151 is in the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew, used in Jesus’s day), we’ll start our numbering of these other psalms at 152. This is for convenience and structure, nothing more.

Explore the other psalms—sacred songs of praise, petition, and lament—scattered throughout the Bible in Peter’s book Beyond Psalm 150.

[In exploring these other psalms scattered throughout the Bible, we’ll use the World English Bible (WEB) as our text. It’s based on the revered American Standard Version of 1901 and updated for today’s readers.

Notable in the WEB is the use of the Hebrew name Yahweh (or sometimes just Yah) instead of Lord or Jehovah. It adds a sense of awe, connecting us today with our faith’s Hebrew heritage.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Categories
Bible Insights

What Does God Think of Prostitutes?

While I can’t definitively answer this question about prostitutes, the Bible does give a clear indication—and the answer may surprise you.

Through the prophet Hosea, God says: “I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution…because the men themselves consort with harlots and sacrifice with shrine prostitutesa people without understanding will come to ruin!”

In economic terms, there needs to be both supply and demand for a “market” to exist. This applies to prostitution. Although both society and law enforcement tend to focus on the “supply” side of the prostitution equation, God’s focus seems to be on the “demand” side.

In God’s book, it’s the guys who are at fault and the guys who will come to ruin over prostitution. While sexual purity is a reoccurring theme in the Bible, in this case the ladies are offered mercy, but not so much for the guys.

Isn’t God wonderfully surprising?

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Hosea 1-4, and today’s post is on Hosea 4:14.]

Learn more about all twelve of the Bible’s Minor Prophets in Peter’s book, Return to Me: 40 Prophetic Teachings about Unfaithfulness, Punishment, and Hope from the Minor Prophets

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Categories
Bible Study

John Bible Study, Day 27: The Vine and the Branches

Today’s passage: John 15:1–17

Focus verse: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Farmers who grow grapes and fruit know a truth that seems counterintuitive to everyone else. An unpruned vine or tree doesn’t produce much fruit, if any.

To the uninformed, it seems backward. Logic suggests that the more branches, the more fruit. But this isn’t the case. 

Though a vine or fruit tree may have many branches loaded with flowers, too many blossoms produce small and undesirable fruit, which are worthless for sale and of little use.

In extreme cases it produces no fruit. This is because the plant divides its sustenance between all the branches and flowers. If it has too many blossoms, none of the blooms receive enough nourishment to thrive. As a result, the harvest disappoints.

Given this, wise farmers prune their grapes and fruit trees with care. With practiced skill, they cut off the weak branches, the damaged limbs, and the competing boughs so that the remaining healthy ones can thrive and produce much fruit.

So it is with us and Jesus. 

This word picture of vine and branches helps us better understand our Messiah. He is the vine (such as a grapevine or a fruit tree), and we are the branches.

In this, Jesus is the source of our nourishment. He’s the giver of life. He is the means of our support, our sustenance, and our existence. Without him we are nothing and can do nothing.

For us, as branches, we completely depend on him. We can produce fruit only through him. Just as farmers trim fruit trees and grapevines to produce more fruit, so too, God prunes us to be more productive for him. 

A more sobering thought is cutting off unproductive branches from the vine. What a horrifying image, to have our life severed from Jesus. Yet, even if our unproductive nature has separated us from Jesus, we have hope.

Paul mentions branches grafted—that is, reattached—back onto the tree. The grafted branch can again receive life-giving sustenance and survive.

Later in John, Jesus reminds us that he loves us, chooses us, and appoints us to bear fruit for him. Take comfort in this and go produce fruit.

Questions:

  1. What fruit are you producing? 
  2. Is your attention divided between too many things? What can you eliminate so you can produce more fruit?
  3. How open are you to Jesus pruning you to produce more? 
  4. What must you change to make sure you’re getting your nourishment from him?
  5. If you ever feel lopped off from the vine, do you believe Jesus can graft you back?

Discover more about grafted branches in Romans 11:11–24. What insights can you glean from this passage?

Read the next lesson or start at the beginning of this study.

Tips: Check out our tips to use this online Bible study for your church, small group, Sunday school class, or family discussion. It’s also ideal for personal study. Come back each Monday for a new lesson.


Read more in Peter’s new book, Living Water: 40 Reflections on Jesus’s Life and Love from the Gospel of John, available everywhere in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Categories
Bible Study

John Bible Study, Day 27: The Vine and the Branches

Today’s passage: John 15:1–17

Focus verse: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Farmers who grow grapes and fruit know a truth that seems counterintuitive to everyone else. An unpruned vine or tree doesn’t produce much fruit, if any. To the uninformed, it seems backward. Logic suggests that the more branches, the more fruit. But this isn’t the case. 

Though a vine or fruit tree may have many branches loaded with flowers, too many blossoms produce small and undesirable fruit, which are worthless for sale and of little use.

In extreme cases it produces no fruit. This is because the plant divides its sustenance between all the branches and flowers. If it has too many blossoms, none of the blooms receive enough nourishment to thrive. As a result, the harvest disappoints.

Given this, wise farmers prune their grapes and fruit trees with care. With practiced skill, they cut off the weak branches, the damaged limbs, and the competing boughs so that the remaining healthy ones can thrive and produce much fruit.

So it is with us and Jesus. 

This word picture of vine and branches helps us better understand our Messiah. He is the vine (such as a grapevine or a fruit tree), and we are the branches.

In this, Jesus is the source of our nourishment. He’s the giver of life. He is the means of our support, our sustenance, and our existence. Without him we are nothing and can do nothing.

For us, as branches, we completely depend on him. We can produce fruit only through him. Just as farmers trim fruit trees and grapevines to produce more fruit, so too, God prunes us to be more productive for him. 

A more sobering thought is cutting off unproductive branches from the vine. What a horrifying image, to have our life severed from Jesus. Yet, even if our unproductive nature has separated us from Jesus, we have hope.

Paul mentions branches grafted—that is, reattached—back onto the tree. The grafted branch can again receive life-giving sustenance and survive.

Later in John, Jesus reminds us that he loves us, chooses us, and appoints us to bear fruit for him. Take comfort in this and go produce fruit.

Questions:

  1. What fruit are you producing? 
  2. Is your attention divided between too many things? What can you eliminate so you can produce more fruit?
  3. How open are you to Jesus pruning you to produce more? 
  4. What must you change to make sure you’re getting your nourishment from him?
  5. If you ever feel lopped off from the vine, do you believe Jesus can graft you back?

Discover more about grafted branches in Romans 11:11–24. What insights can you glean from this passage?

Tips: Check out our tips to use this online Bible study for your church, small group, Sunday school class, or family discussion. It’s also ideal for personal study. Come back each Monday for a new lesson.


Read more in Peter’s new book, Living Water: 40 Reflections on Jesus’s Life and Love from the Gospel of John, available everywhere in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Categories
Christian Living

What Happened to Integrity?

May Our Life Honor God and Be an Example to Others

Integrity is largely missing in our world today. It looms as an out-of-date concept. Many even mock it as restrictive, limiting our desire to act however we want.

Integrity is an unwavering adherence to moral principles and ethical behavior. It’s being honest. It’s sound moral character.

Given this definition, don’t we want to deal with people of integrity? Certainly we expect the companies we do business with to act with integrity. But many do not.

Don’t we want our friends—especially our closest ones—to be people of integrity? And we desire that our family and loved ones will live lives of integrity.

Yet we must wonder if we act with the same integrity that we expect from others.

Integrity is also biblical.

Consider Job

In the Bible we see Job as a man of integrity. Even Satan, Job’s accuser, views him as a man of integrity (Job 2:3). So does Job’s wife (Job 2:9). And even Job himself (Job 27:5). In the end, God rewards him for it.

Other People in the Bible

The Old Testament says that David leads the people with integrity (Psalm 78:72). And Hananiah is a trustworthy man of integrity (Nehemiah 7:2).

Paul self identifies as a man of integrity (2 Corinthians 1:12). And he encourages Titus to do the same (Titus 2:7-8).

Lessons from Proverbs

The book of proverbs also covers this topic.

If we walk in integrity, we will walk securely (Proverbs 10:9).

Our integrity will guide us (Proverbs 11:3) and guard us (Proverbs 13:6).

Last, the bloodthirsty—implicitly evil people—will hate those with integrity (Proverbs 29:10).

Leadership

In Paul’s instructions to Timothy, he teaches his protegee to appoint leaders in the area. They must be people of integrity (1 Timothy 3:8), just as we expect from all our church leaders and spiritual mentors.

The Integrity of Jesus

Most importantly, we see throughout the four biographies of Jesus that he is a man of integrity.

Even Jesus’s detractors confirm this (Matthew 22:16 and Mark 12:14). Though their words may be disingenuous, complimenting him to catch him off guard, we realize they acknowledge an underlying truth that even they’re aware of.

Jesus’s life serves as an example for us to emulate, the best model we could follow. As we seek to be like Jesus, we will be people of integrity.

And as people of integrity, we will honor him, be an example to others, and serve as a witness to the world. And our actions will speak more powerfully than our words.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

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Peter DeHaan News

Weekly Blog Posting Schedule

The Topics Covered in Peter DeHaan’s Posts

For several years I’ve used a blogging schedule to guide what I post and when. Though this helps me greatly, I’ve never shared this information, so it doesn’t help you, the people who read my posts,

Here are the topics covered in my blog posting schedule:

Sunday: Christian Living

Monday: Weekly Bible Study

Tuesday: Read Through the Bible in a year

Wednesday: Book excerpts (there’s no direct link to these posts.)

Thursday: Visiting Churches

Friday: News (as it becomes available)

Use the above links to follow your preferred posts, or just read them all.

Thank you

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Categories
Visiting Churches

Fatigue and Fear Set In: Church #75

My final consideration is Greek Orthodox. They appear fourth on my mental list of churches to visit. Like Anglican Catholic, I’ve never talked to anyone who was Greek Orthodox or Eastern Orthodox.

Historically, I understand they split from the Roman Catholic Church about a thousand years ago. 

What little I know—accurate or not—comes from what I’ve seen in movies and television. This is hardly an ideal source of information of what it means to be Greek Orthodox and how their worship of God unfolds.

Visiting them could be another high church experience, which I could contrast to Roman Catholic and Anglican Catholic. 

A Greek Orthodox church is about thirty minutes away. Yet inertia keeps me from visiting.

In truth, I suspect an element of fear also conspires to keep me away, not that I haven’t had to deal with my share of fear in visiting many of the other churches.

But now, a certain degree of church-visiting fatigue contrives to make me unsure and keep me away.

This isn’t their issue, it’s mine.

Given this, I wonder how many other people have similar concerns that keep them home on Sunday and thwart them from visiting churches, one of which could turn out to be a great faith community for them to plug into.

[Read about Church 74 or start at the beginning of our journey.]

Get your copy of More Than 52 Churches today, available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.