Opened Scriptures Bible Studies

Good morning, Today is a new day the Lord has granted us, so let us show people we come in contact with today that we can have a joyful life in a troubled world because of Christ. Liberty in Christ Galatians 2:1-5 Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. 2 And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain. 3 But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: 4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: 5 To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.  The letter Paul wrote to the churches in the Roman province of Galatia were written out of a need...

Good morning to all. I would like to think about the New Year with you.  The month January is named after the pagan god Janus. This pagan god had 2 faces.  One old representing the past year and one young, representing the new year. Around the world New Years Eve and New Years Day reflect the old year passing and the new year coming in.  God made our calendar to include a new year to accommodate our need for a fresh start. The old year is marred in the sense that the mistakes we made cannot be undone and time has passed with no way to get it back. January 1 is a fresh beginning to a new year that is not yet marred by our mistakes and is full of promise and hope. Old things pass and all things are made new 2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.  Paul reminds us that when we are born again the old ways of our life pass away and we are granted a brand ...

Paul saw and heard wonderful things in Christ NASA photo of Milky Way galaxy. Corinthians 12:1-4 It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) 4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Paul gives us a very unique view of life as an apostle "in Christ." The Corinthians spent much time glorying or being proud of the wrong things. Some were proud because they followed Apollos and others because they followed Peter. Some gloried in the fact that they followed Paul but all this glorying was not good and Paul spent time and energy attempting to bring them back to whe...

We are blessed with another morning that can be a really good one if we seek the Lord and His kingdom first. We must all keep our hearts open to opportunities that the Lord may give us and be ready to speak to others about the hope that we have in us. Sharing God's truth with other people is a work that satisfies our soul.  Today we move father along in studying the great benefits that we have "in Christ." All the things of God culminate in Christ and when we are born again and placed in Christ, the riches of His work becomes our inheritance.  2 Corinthians 11:1-4 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. 2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he that cometh preac...

Good morning to each of you. I hope that each one of you has enjoyed a blessed Christmas Day. I continue to be amazed at all that had to occur in order for God to become a man. How much He loved us to move heaven and earth in order to save rebels like us. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Paul brings the great truth of reconciliation. Sinners are born as the enemies of God and great enmity exists between God and man. Yet, God removed the enmity when He po...

Good morning to all, this day after Christmas.  We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas day with members of our church family because our own family gathering will be on the 30th.  Today we continue on in our study of what it means for us to be in Christ.  2 Corinthians 5:1-8 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (Fo...

This lovely Christmas poem is actually a hymn that dates to 1872. I would like to share the words with all of you on this Christmas Day. If you listen to a choir sing this beautiful hymn you will hear a tune that is tender and reflective of the great truth being communicated about Christ.  My wife and I wish you All a most blessed Christmas Holy Day and pray that we are all captivated with Christ Jesus our Lord.  Bob In the Bleak Mid-Winter By Christina Georgina Rossetti  In the bleak mid-winter, frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, long ago. Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain; Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign. In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ. Angels and archangels may have gathered there, Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air; But His mother on...

Good morning everyone and may this post find each one of us happily reflecting on all that we have in Christ.   It is Christmas Eve and I hope that you have completed your preparations for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.  Have a safe and blessed holy day with your loved ones and families.  Christian love among believers in Christ. 1 Corinthians 16:24  My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. The first epistle to the Corinthians was written from Philippi by Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus and Timotheus. Paul closed out his first letter to the church at Corinth and we read a clear expression of deep, genuine Christian love that the apostle had for that church. Every born again Christian enjoys the love of God shed abroad in their hearts by the Spirit of God and this is what comes out of Paul for them.   It is a love that is long-suffering with immature believers. It is a selfless love that labored ceaselessly to help th...

We have another sunny day in December and we are enjoying the beauty of this season. Yes, I would still like to have lots of snow on the ground but it looks like that will not happen until after the holidays.  I am very glad that you joined us this morning and I hope that your Lord's day was a God honoring reflection of the birth of Jesus Christ. Our post today looks at another precious aspect of what it means to be "in Christ." It involves joy and rejoicing because we know Jesus Christ as savior and we continue to learn of all that He did for us at the cross, and all that He is currently doing for us in heaven and all of His sure promises regarding the future. Rejoicing in Christ 1 Corinthians 15:30-34 30 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? 31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink...

Greetings to our many Dear Readers. You are all a great encouragement to us as we labor for the Lord. May Christ find us all rejoicing more and more as we think about God becoming a man to save us from our sins.  We enjoyed a beautiful sunny day yesterday and it seems as though my hope for 6-8 inches of snow will not happen this year. However, I am content with whatever weather our Father chooses to give us. 1 Corinthians 15:16-22 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Chapter 15 in 1st Corinthians has ...

Good morning & joyous Christmas tidings to all of you on this Christmas weekend. We have cold weather but I would like to have 6-8 inches of snow because it makes the winter landscape intensely beautiful. Please be safe in all that you do through the holiday season and rejoice in what God did through the birth of His Son. Believers are sanctified in Christ 1 Corinthians 1:1-3 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: 3 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul begins his letter to the church at Corinth and in the introduction a powerful truth is put before us. The born again believer is "sanctified" in Christ.  The word "sanctified" means to be hall...