The House You're Building

[6] But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. [7] For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. [8] For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, [9] not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. [10] For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [11] And they shall not teach, e...

  22  Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  23  For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.  24  Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25  Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,  26  that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,  27  so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. [ a ]   28  In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.  29  For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,  30  because...

    When you study the bible verse-by-verse you don’t get to skip the tricky parts.  For ladies, who make up the majority of my blog following, the group of verses in this section of 1 st  Peter [1]  are a counter-cultural revolution. I was fascinated by this passage and have so much I can say about it, but I’m going to try and boil my points down to one clear theme.  Beauty is vulnerability.  When I first studied this in the ESV translation, I came across verse 3:6 and the wording of it was very strange….  Don’t fear anything that is frightening .  In our humanity, a common response to things that are frightening is fear. That seems pretty intuitive and people who don’t respond in fear might not be living in reality.  And that my friends is the key!  It is not in our nature to confront what the world fears and display a different response.  It is other-worldly, of the divine nature, the cultural p...

Key Verse Let brotherly love continue Hebrews 13:1 Opening reflection:  Have you ever loved a friend like a family member?  What caused the closeness of that relationship?  Study Questions: 1.  What is brotherly love?  To further your study, read these cross references: Romans 12:10, 1 Thessalonians 4:9, 1 Peter 1:22, 3:8.  What seems to be easy for you in loving other Christians?  What is difficult? 2.  This passage contains 3 commands in verses 2-4.  List the commands and the corresponding reasons given for obedience.  Of the three given, which have you participated in?  In what ways are you challenged?  3.  Read Matthew 25:35-40.  How does Jesus teaching on serving others compare to what the writer is commanding in the verses we are studying this week?  Does it change how you look at meeting other's needs? 4.  We know from Hebrews 10:34 that the recipients of the letter were...

Prepare Your Heart:   Prayerfully read Romans chapter 12.   Though this passage doesn’t explicitly discuss marriage, it is full of ways we should treat others, especially our spouse.   As you read and pray, reflect and ask God to show you things about your marriage through this study. We are continuing our study of being peacemakers and this week we turn to a specific relationship: marriage.   You may be a woman who is not married for a variety of reasons.   Perhaps you are divorced, engaged, dating, widowed, or have chosen to remain single.    My hope is that you will still take something away from this as a way to support others in their current marriages or glean knowledge for that stage of life in the future.   Recently my small group has started a video series on marriage.   As I’ve listened to the teacher, I’m not sure that his view of marriage is a biblical one.   (As I’ve shared before, test all teaching against the words of th...