Sexual Immorality Defiles Our Bodies, the Temple of the Holy Spirit Some people today don’t want to talk about sin. They view discussions of sin as judgmental. In truth, they don’t want to be confronted with their own shortcomings and faults. But the Bible addresses sin, so we’d be foolish to dismiss it. Most sins […]
A Prophet Who Dares to Confront the King Nathan (2) is a prophet during the reign of King David. The Bible has two stories about Nathan. When David has established his kingdom and enjoys a time of peace, he shares an idea with Nathan. He wants to build a temple for the Lord. Nathan tells […]
Luke Bible Study, Day 5 Today’s passage: Luke 2:39–52 Focus verse:“Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49) After Jesus’s miraculous conception, birth, and the testimonies from the angels—and later Simeon and Anna—we don’t hear anything more about Jesus until he’s twelve. We can only guess what his childhood might […]
Where We Spend Our Time Reveals Our Priorities King David longs to build a temple for God, but God says this is not to be. Another, a descendant of David, will attend to its construction. Instead David must content himself with the temple’s planning and in accumulating its building materials. Then he dies, having never […]
Look Up to the Mountains Psalm 121 is listed as “A song of ascents.” We may think of this as a subheading later added by translators, but it is not. It’s part of the original text. From nonbiblical sources, we learn that these songs were sung by the people as they climbed the hill to […]
Today’s passage: Matthew 21:23–27, Mark 11:27–33, and Luke 20:1–8 Focus verse: “By what authority are you doing these things?” [the religious leaders] asked. “And who gave you this authority?” (Matthew 21:23) Let’s recap what Jesus has done in the past few hours. First, he rides into Jerusalem like a victorious king, with the people shouting […]
Today’s passage: Matthew 21:12–13, Mark 11:15–17, and Luke 19:45–46 Focus verse: “It is written,” [Jesus] said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” (Matthew 21:13) After Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the colt, he goes to the temple courts. This is the […]
We Honor God When We Take Care of His Temple In the post “Take Care of God’s Temple,” we talked about honoring God with our bodies because the Holy Spirit lives in us. But there is more to this idea of our bodies being God’s temple. Collectively the church is God’s temple too. That is, […]
We Must Honor God with Our Bodies Paul tells us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). This confirms that the Holy Spirit lives in each one of us. It’s a joint cohabitation, a partnership with the Holy Spirit—with God. We are God’s temple. In this way, we don’t belong […]
At the Temple Anna and Simeon Bless Jesus Today’s Passage: Luke 2:39 Focus Verse: They returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. (Luke 2:39) As we’ve covered, Mary and Joseph go to the temple in Jerusalem when Baby Jesus is eight days old. They do so to consecrate him to God as their […]