Showing Love by Helping Others

Proof-texting, where we come already armed with answers, can be like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Bible study should be about discovery.

Psalm 107 describes men who do business upon the great waters on ships.

The concluding doxology (praise to God), though briefer, is like the previous doxologies in Romans 8:31-39 and 11:33-36.

God inspired the authors of the Bible to write down His Word for us, which is clear from passages like Rom 15:4: “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (All quotes are from the ESV.)

We know that Jesus chose His apostles for the most important mission in history. “And he said unto them, Go ye unto all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:15-16). But other than the New Testament accounts of the lives and the preaching of a few of the apostles, where did they all go and how did their lives end?

Cowering in a house in Jerusalem, their remaining hope was to escape the sword. Jesus had been crucified and buried along with their hopes of seeing his Kingdom established. The eleven who remained were scared. But soon, these same men would turn the world upside down. Soon they would spread God’s word the across the Roman world. How could that be possible?

John’s Gospel is different - Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the ‘Synoptic’ Gospels, because the events of Jesus’ life and ministry are seen from roughly similar perspectives. The Gospel of John is different. There is no account of the birth of the Savior, but an account of the spiritual rebirth of those who “received him.” “But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).

Some of the apostles listed in the opening article are known only by their recorded name in the New Testament. These individuals are often overlooked, but the context in which they are named indicates their vital importance in the first century ecclesias. It is perhaps surprising that so little is recorded about several of the twelve apostles, but we can often deduce much from the context and their names.

Titus is clearly a most important individual in the spreading of the gospel: and indeed he is referred to as an apostolos in the passage above, so he is included in our survey of the apostles. Even a cursory read of Paul’s letter to Titus reveals that the circumstances and issues being addressed are very familiar to the brotherhood in these last days...

Where do we begin when a friend we love is not in the Truth? Where do we begin when it is someone we dislike? Where do we begin when an individual, any new brother or sister, accepts the Truth?