Bible Study

Monday, July 24

Matthew 13:44-46 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

The Kingdom of heaven… I like these parables. I particularly like what they tell you about the kingdom of heaven.

First, the kingdom of heaven is so valuable. In today’s talk it would be, “Church building: $500,000. Church pulpit: $560. Kingdom of Heaven: priceless.” (very lousy analogy, but you get what I’m saying) And the kingdom of heaven is valuable. It should be our highest goal.

Secondly, both of these people found it. They were searching for something. To me, that says that we are all missing something. We all have this certain hole in our hearts, and, whether we realize it or not, we are looking for the perfect piece to fill that hole. Notice how when both men found that missing piece, it meant so much to them, that they absolutely had to have it. They were willing to give away all that they possessed to gain it. That leads me to my third point…

The price of the kingdom of heave is nothing. While it is priceless, it costs us nothing. But this is a special kind of nothing, you see we must have nothing to buy it. Paradoxical, I know. If you look at Matthew 5:3 though – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”- then you find the answer. The poor in spirit that Matt 5:3 refers to is spiritually poor. We are to only belong to Jesus. We are to give up all of our other desires. We are not to worship money or popularity or our game systems. We are to give all of that up, for only then may we attain the kingdom of heaven.

Monday, July 10

Isaiah 40:31
"But they who wait for the LORD shall
renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like
eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not be faint."

This has always been one of my favorite Bible verses, so I figured why not start my Bible Study with it.

This passage is just so awesome to me. It just speaks of God's amazing power. That no matter what situation your going through, no matter what problems your facing, if you give it to God then he will restore you. If you wait on God, he can not only fix it, but make it better than you ever dreamed it could be.

Let me tell you the story of "Little Bad Legs".

There was this boy named Danny. He was raised in a Christian home. Every morning his mother would read a scripture at breakfast.

On this particular morning she read Isaiah 40:31. After breakfast, Danny and his older brother would walk to school.

Now this was back when everyone walked to school and every grade was taught by the same teacher in the same wooded school building. So Danny and his brother went to school. Now they were the closest family to the school, so they always got there first, and it was Danny's older brother's job to get the fireplace going. Well this one morning, the man who delivered the lighter fluid for the wood heater accidently left kerosene instead. So when Danny's brother poured it on the wood, and tossed on a match, the wood heater exploded.

The whole building was instantly engulfed in flame. Danny got out, even though his legs were on fire; but he could do nothing to help his brother.

At the hospital, they told Danny that due to the extensive burns to his legs, he would never be able to walk on his own. He was doomed to use crutches the rest of his life.

Danny wasn't convinced though, he remembered the scripture his mom had read that morning and made that his motto. He wouldn't accept that he would never walk again. He prayed and trained his legs. Every day three times daily he tried to exercise his legs, and his legs got stronger. He upped it to four times a day, and started to hobble around.

Danny never let up, he pushed himself and prayed for God to help him. By the time he was 20 he was running in the Olympics.

That story is what made Isaiah 40:31 my favorite Bible verse. It's just a testimony of how if we give it to God, he can restore us.