RIGHTLY DIVIDING

Words of Warning

Life is full of warnings. The Internet, TV, and billboards bombard us regularly with warnings, telling us what to think, believe, and do…

Paul’s Partners

The apostle Paul personally discipled several committed men who partnered with him in spreading the gospel. Most of them came to salvation in Christ during…

Patterning Christlikeness

Many godly men and women in the Bible serve as examples for us of how to live for Christ. They trusted God’s…

The Mind of Christ

In Philippians 2:3–4, Paul admonished Christians to live in spiritual unity with one another. Nothing was to be done within the church through selfish ambition…

Spiritual Unity

The 6th-century BC Greek storyteller Aesop, whose oral tales compose the famous Aesop’s Fables, has been credited with the origin of the…

To Live is Christ

An old martyr once told his executioners, “You take a life from me that I cannot keep and bestow a life upon me that I cannot lose…”

Rejoicing in Christ

If anyone had a reason to ask, “Why me?” it was the apostle Paul. No one who followed Christ suffered more for the gospel than he did…

Paul’s Joy

Several years ago, we received a Thanksgiving Day card titled “Blessed and Grateful.” The sender wrote, “We hope your celebration of God’s blessings is…

Introduction to Philippians

Christian leaders often create ministry strategies, only to discover God’s will is different…

Paul’s Final Words

Place yourself in the apostle Paul’s sandals: You are in a dungeon awaiting execution, knowing your fellow workers face great persecution from Roman officials…

Paul’s Personal Word

If we had written the apostle Paul’s last words, we might have chosen to conclude his final epistle with a testimony to his victorious, faithful ministry…

Paul’s Triumphant Testimony

Are you prepared to die? The last words a person utters or writes when death is imminent are usually of great importance…

Preach God’s Word!

Knowing his life would soon end, the apostle Paul fixed his attention on completing his letter to young Timothy, his protégé and son in the faith…

Preparation For Perilous Times

The apostle Paul was martyred during the rule of Roman Emperor Nero, an evil, diabolical man whose vicious cruelty…

Facing Perilous Times

In many of his epistles, the apostle Paul warned churches that in the last days, charlatans will emerge teaching erroneous, deceptive doctrines that cause…

Perilous Times Predicted

People who serve Satan may not realize what they are doing. But if they distort, oppose, twist, or deny the true gospel…

Faithful in Service

What is the church? Many people think of it solely as a building—sometimes a great and majestic cathedral and sometimes an unadorned, small, simple structure…

The Lord’s Servant

Confronting false teaching is not easy, particularly for a young minister. But it is necessary, as the apostle Paul explained to his protégé Timothy…

Remain Committed

The Christian life is not a sprint to the finish line. It’s a marathon. It requires faithful endurance from beginning to end; and to live it, we must draw on…

Stand Strong in Christ

A concert violinist once was asked, “How did you become such a skilled violinist?” The musician replied, “By planned neglect. I planned to neglect everything that was…”

Courageous for Christ

Eighty percent of the people around the world today being persecuted for their faith are Christians. Many live under the constant threat of violence…

Steadfast in Service

Timothy was a young leader in the Ephesian church when the apostle Paul wrote the epistle of 2 Timothy to encourage his “son” in the faith…

Thankful for Everything

Memory is a wonderful gift from God. Some people say the human mind can store as many as 600 memories a second…

Disciplining the Disorderly

A church is like a family. All members need love, and sometimes someone needs discipline. This fact was especially…

Paul’s Emphasis on Prayer

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, often called the prince of preachers, had much to say about his prayer life…

Standing Secure in Christ

False teaching had shaken the Thessalonians’ faith. It had persuaded them they were living in the Day of the Lord…

A Misled Generation

It’s encouraging to know that before the Antichrist even appears on the world scene, his ultimate demise and destiny in the Lake of Fire are certain. When Christ returns to Earth, He will destroy this man of sin…

The Restrainer of Evil

While establishing the church in Thessalonica, the apostle Paul personally instructed believers concerning future prophecy…

The Great Deception

It’s easy to become discouraged and misled by false reports. That’s why it is so important to be able to discern between truth and error…

Comforting the Persecuted

The apostle Paul made a practice of visiting churches he had planted and providing pastoral care and counsel. But sometimes opposition to him and his ministry made the task impossible…

God is Faithful

Paul’s concluding words in this epistle are extremely important. He revisited prominent themes of prayer, sanctification, the Lord’s faithfulness, spiritual commitment, and preparedness for the Rapture of the church…

Church Life

The apostle Paul often addressed the church as a family. He called members brothers and sisters and encouraged them to love one another. To function properly, a church—like a family—must have structure, order, respect for its members…

The Christian’s Life

“At the Rapture,” wrote Bible scholar John F. Walvoord, “Christians will see their loved ones who died and preceded them to heaven. It will also end their earthly problems, and they will be forever with the Lord.”1 For these reasons, the Rapture has been a…

The Day of the Lord

1 Thessalonians 5:1–3: In 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, we saw that Christians (both dead and living) will be raptured to be with Christ when He appears to receive His church. But what about those left behind?…

Our Blessed Hope

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18: When Paul established the Thessalonian church, he taught believers there about Jesus Christ’s imminent return. They were told, “wait for His Son from heaven…

A Life That Pleases God

1 Thessalonians 4:9–12: How to live a life that pleases God is the overriding theme of the first 12 verses of 1 Thessalonians 4. Verses 1–8 speak about sexual purity, and verses 9–12 provide practical instruction on how to maintain right relationships with…

Living in Moral Purity

1 Thessalonians 4:1–8: Some people find it difficult to live for Christ. But God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us, and we need to learn how to yield our lives to His control. In the final two chapters of 1 Thessalonians, the apostle Paul…

Paul’s Encouraging Word

1 Thessalonians 3:6–13: Greatly relieved by Timothy’s encouraging report that the young Thessalonian church was not wavering in its faith despite persecution, the apostle Paul penned this letter to the Thessalonians.

A Minister’s Encouragement

1 Thessalonians 3:1–5: Birthing is not easy. That’s why it’s called labor. Paul felt personally responsible for the Thessalonian church, which he had birthed through his ministry. He cared for the babes in Christ there with the gentle love…

A Minister’s Heart

1 Thessalonians 2:13–20: The testimony of a new believer in Christ causes other believers to rejoice. Imagine how overjoyed the apostle Paul was to learn of the Thessalonians’ steadfast faith despite their persecution. He rejoiced over them and longed to see them again.

Ministering With Affection

1 Thessalonians 2:7–12The church is a family. People enter it by being born into it spiritually. And, as in a family, all members have responsibilities; and their commitment to and love for one another are necessary to create…

Ministering with Integrity

1 Thessalonians 2:1–6: The apostle Paul’s abrupt departure from Thessalonica brought accusations that he was a religious charlatan preaching for financial gain and personal honor. If the accusations went unanswered, they…

The Thessalonians’ Testimony

1 Thessalonians 1:9–10: When the Thessalonians received Jesus Christ as their Savior, they experienced a thrilling transformation. They were completely delivered from the darkness and depravity of paganism and anxiously…

Rejoicing Over Salvation

1 Thessalonians 1:5–8: The apostle Paul did not preach on the power of positive thinking to the Thessalonians. He did not use skillful oratory, philosophical arguments, clever expressions, or…

Thankful for the Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 1:2–4: When kindness is shown to someone, the usual response is to say thank you. No New Testament writer other than Paul expressed thankfulness to his fellow Christians…

Introduction to the First Epistle to the Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 1:1: First Thessalonians is a key book for every Christian, whether a new believer or seasoned saint. The theme is the coming of the Lord, and each chapter builds on an aspect of the believer’s life…

The Thessalonian Church

Acts 17:1–10: One of the apostle Paul’s most important ministries took place in Thessalonica. His letters to believers there show how he established churches early in his ministry, met with opposition…

Confronting Church Conflict

3 John 5–14: Third John focuses on three men, two of whom—Gaius and Diotrephes—were church leaders. Gaius was a committed servant, full of love and truth, and given to hospitality…

A Beloved Servant

3 John 1–4: Churches are like families: full of members with differing personalities, dispositions, and temperaments. Some members are friendly, loving, truthful, generous, and hospitable…

Standing for the Truth

2 John 5–13: All Christians should obey biblical truth and manifest love, as taught by Jesus Christ. The “elect lady and her children,” whom the apostle John mentioned in his second epistle, lived observably according to these commandments…

Living Truthfully

2 John 1:1–4: A major problem in the first-century church was the proliferation of false teachers. Under the inspiration and leading of the Holy Spirit, the apostle John…

Confidence in God

1 John 5:13–21: Some Christians lack assurance that they are truly born again. Certainty about one’s salvation comes through knowing what God’s Word teaches. The apostle John’s major focus…

Victorious in Christ

1 John 5:1–12: The apostle John used the word overcomer more than any New Testament writer when speaking of the Christian’s victorious life in Christ (1 Jn. 5:4–5)…

True Christian Love

1 John 4:7–21: If one thing is glaringly missing in the life of many Christians today, it is the expression of Christian love. Throughout the First Epistle of John, the apostle John emphasized…

Spiritual Discernment

1 John 4:1–6: First-century believers were often inundated with heretical doctrine from people whom the Bible identifies as false teachers and false prophets. At that time…

Loving One Another

1 John 3:11–24: In 1 John 3:10, the apostle John declared, “Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.” These strong words…

Saints and Sinners

1 John 3:4–10: The First Epistle of John teaches that people who are truly born again are children of God and will practice righteousness (2:29), keeping themselves pure from sin…

Behold God’s Love

1 John 3:1–3: God’s redemptive program began with His love for fallen humanity. Those who have been “born of Him” (1 Jn. 2:29) by faith in Jesus Christ manifest this…

Warning Against Antichrists

1 John 2:18–29: At the inception of his epistle, the apostle John declared, “God is light” (1 Jn. 1:5). He said people who walk in God’s light abide in fellowship with Him.

Love Not the World

1 John 2:12–17: In this section, John assured his readers of his confidence in their salvation (vv. 12–14); and he instructed them to guard against loving the world and becoming part of its…

The Test of Knowing God

1 John 2:3–11: It is easy for someone to say, “I know God”; but what does that really mean? First John 2:3–11 provides three tests or evidences of what it means to know God and be in…

God’s Provision for Sin

1 John 2:1–2: God is light (1 Jn. 1:5). Light defines and describes God’s true nature and symbolizes His purity, character, and glory. To have true fellowship with God, Christians must…

Fellowship With God

1 John 1:5–10: Fellowship with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ is the message the apostle John proclaims throughout this epistle. For believers to have fellowship with God, they…

Christ’s Incarnation

1 John 1:1–4: Before the apostle John wrote 1 John, he had already lived through the inception, expansion, and persecution of the first-century church…

The First Epistle of John

In most Bible-believing churches, a Sunday morning service seems filled with a spirit of joy and harmony. Visitors are welcomed warmly and invited to please come back…

A Final Exhortation

Hebrews 13:18–25: The final eight verses of Hebrews 13 conclude the Epistle to the Hebrews. In them, the author exhorted Jewish believers one last time through a…

Counseling the Christian Hebrews 13:7–17

Chapter 13 of Hebrews contains the book’s final admonishment. Whereas verses 1–6 provide practical and personal exhortation on how believers should live in Christ, verses 7–17 focus more on theological…

The Christian’s Commitment Hebrews 13:1–6

To this point, the book of Hebrews has stressed the superiority of Christ, while exhorting believers not to leave the church because of persecution but to go on to Christian…

The Final Warning Hebrews 12:18–29

In a fifth and final warning to Jewish believers in Christ, the book of Hebrews contrasts the experience of God’s people at Mount Sinai as they received the Mosaic Covenant…

The Lord’s Chastening Hebrews 12:5–17

Tribulation and suffering befall all true Christians sometime in their lives. The believers addressed in the book of Hebrews were no exception. Persecution had…

A Faith That Endures Hebrews 12:1–4

The book of Hebrews was written to provide evidence of Jesus Christ’s divinity, confirm that the Mosaic Law had been both fulfilled and abrogated in Christ, and exhort Jewish believers…

The Accomplishments of Faith

Hebrews 11:32–40: The beginning of Hebrews 11 describes faith. Then it systematically illustrates it in the lives of those who lived before the patriarchal period until Israel crossed the Jordan River…

Faith at Jericho Hebrews 11:30–31

After 400 years in Egyptian captivity, the Israelites prepared to enter the Promised Land. The Lord commanded Moses to send one representative from each of the 12 tribes to search…

The Faith of Moses Hebrews 11:23–29

Moses was a gifted leader whom God used to bring about His plan for Israel and the world. He was blessed with good looks, intelligence, opportunities, eloquence, and leadership ability (Ex. 2:2; Acts 7:20, 22).

The Father of Faith Hebrews 11:8–22

Now the book of Hebrews moves from the faith of men before the flood to the faith of men in the patriarchal period. The author uses Abraham’s faith to illustrate…

Faith Before the Flood Hebrews 11:4–7

n Hebrews 11 a gallery of portraits is paraded before us, painted by the hand of God. Each portrait presents the unique faith of individuals who performed great exploits. These men and women…

The Bedrock of Faith Hebrews 11:1–3

The author of Hebrews revealed in chapter 10 that salvation is established on the bedrock of Christ’s sacrifice and not through the Levitical system. Christ’s death for sin and His abiding priesthood…

Words of Warning Hebrews 10:26–39

This section of the book of Hebrews comes on the heels of a strong warning in 10:25 that believers not abandon assembling together, as some were doing. In fact, Christians in every generation…

A Lifestyle of Faith Hebrews 10:19–25

To this point, the book of Hebrews has been doctrinal in nature. Using comparison, the author has shown Christ’s superiority over angels, Moses, and the Levitical priesthood. He has also shown…

Christ’s Sufficient Sacrifice Hebrews 10:1–18

Hebrews 10 culminates the central exposition on Christ’s eternal priesthood. In his closing argument, the author contrasted the imperfect, insufficient, and ineffective Levitical sacrificial system with Christ’s once-for-all, perfect, and sufficient…

Christ’s Heavenly Ministry Hebrews 9:23–28

Under the Levitical system, animal blood could only cover sin, never remove it. However, Christ’s blood was sufficient and efficacious to redeem mankind and remove sin. The remaining verses of Hebrews 9…

Christ’s Superior Ministry Hebrews 9:11-22

Hebrews 9 begins with a description of the earthly Tabernacle and its ministry through the Levitical priesthood under the first (Mosaic) covenant. Both the Tabernacle and its services were temporary…

The Hebrew Tabernacle Hebrews 9:1–10

Christ’s high priesthood is superior to the Levitical priesthood because it is based on a New Covenant and operates in a heavenly sanctuary. When referring to the heavenly sanctuary, the author…

Christ’s Perfect Priesthood Hebrews 7:11–28

Many first-century Hebrew Christians struggled to understand the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Growing up under the Levitical system of animal sacrifices, they had centered their faith in the Aaronic priesthood…

Who Is Melchizedek? Hebrews 7:1–10

First-century Jewish believers faced some perplexing questions concerning Christ’s high priestly ministry. Why wasn’t He called a priest while here on Earth? How could He be a legitimate high priest and how…

A Sure Hope Hebrews 6:9–20

In the previous eight verses of this chapter, the author encouraged new believers to leave Judaism and press on toward maturity in Christ. Failure to do so, he warned, would disastrously…

Maturing in Christ

Hebrews 6:1-8: Maturing in Christ is a process; it doesn’t happen overnight. Unfortunately, some people never get there. They regress rather than progress. Hebrews 6 warns believers in Jesus to forsake practices…

Christ Is Superior to Aaron

Hebrews 5:1–14: The tribes of Israel revered the Aaronic high priest. With the exception of Moses, he enjoyed greater access to and fellowship with God than any other Israelite. Although God bestowed…

The Greatest High Priest

Hebrews 4:4–16: The importance of what you are about to study on the high priesthood of Jesus Christ cannot be overstated. Christ’s high priesthood is mentioned briefly in Hebrews 2:17 and 3:1; but the subject…

The Rest God Gives

Hebrews 4:1–13: Chapter 3 of Hebrews presents two types of rest: that of entering Canaan (the rest offered to Israel) and that which comes from a life of faith in Christ. All the Israelites 20 and older…

Christ is Superior to Moses

Hebrews 3:1–19: Moses is a dominant figure in Israel’s history. Of all the Old Testament leaders, there is none greater. He is described as “the man of God” and “the servant of the Lᴏʀᴅ” (Dt. 33:1; 34:5).

The Superiority of Christ

Hebrews 2:1–18: In the midst of showing Christ’s superiority to angels, the author of Hebrews paused to apply what he had presented previously. He then warned and exhorted Jewish believers in Jesus—the recipients of this letter…

The Preeminent Christ

Hebrews 1:4–14: No chapter in the Bible presents such a full picture of the deity of Jesus Christ as Hebrews 1. After completing His earthly ministry, Christ was restored to the dignity and glory He possessed in eternity past…

The Incomparable Christ

Hebrews 1:1–3: Hebrews is without question one of the greatest and most important books in the New Testament. In it the writer presented an in-depth study of both the deity and humanity of Jesus the Messiah…

Jonah’s Rancor

Jonah 4:1–11: If we were writing the book of Jonah, how would we end the story? We’d probably have Jonah rejoicing over being restored from disobedience, rescued from the belly of a fish…

Nineveh’s National Revival

Jonah 3:1–10: The Bible abounds with accounts of God’s judgment. In His righteousness and holiness, He destroys both individuals and nations that are saturated with sin. But He also tells us plainly, “I have no pleasure…

Jonah’s Prayer and Promise

Jonah 1:7—2:10: In February 1891, the crew of the whaling ship Star of the East harpooned a sperm whale. In its death throes, the whale swallowed a man by the name of James Bartley. A day…