Studying the Bible can be a daunting task. The sheer size and amount of content can appear overwhelming to students who desire to know more. While gleaning insights from individual passages is important, it is also important to understand the biblical patterns and how all of the content fits together.
Theology
10 Bible Verses to Combat Complaining
Need some help in the complaining department?
Here are 10 verses to study or memorize to help you combat complaining.
How to Study the Gospel of Mark
The Bible provides an incredible depiction of Jesus through four unique Gospels. The Gospel of Mark emphasizes the need to follow Jesus immediately. In order to study this book, let’s address the differences between the four Gospels and the unique nature of Mark’s Gospel.
The Gospel of Mark [Sermon Series Overview]
I chose to preach through the Gospel of Mark because of the book’s two main focuses:
- Christology
- Discipleship
Our world is in need of a higher view of both of these concepts. We need to know who Jesus is and we need to know what discipleship is.
Why Studying Mark Is Important
Planning sermon series regarding direction, content, and schedule can be a daunting task. When I decided that I wanted to study a Gospel and focus on discipleship, I chose Mark because of the focus. As I drafted out potential sermons, I first came up with 48 sermons and tried to reduce the number but felt like our church family would miss out if I did.
Who Was Mark?
John Mark wrote the Gospel in the New Testament that we commonly refer to as Mark. While he is mentioned in the New Testament in a few spots, what do we really know about the man who wrote what was probably the first Gospel written?
Multiply Churches
The Multiply Initiative is our simple yet aggressive plan to multiply disciples. As we make disciples within our own church, our prayer is that we will see growth in our church and in the churches we plant or replant.
Why Preach Through Mark?
I am preparing to preach through the Gospel of Mark at our church. As I prepared the series, it is going to take 1 year to preach through this Gospel. While there are 4 Gospels in the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – same story but told from different perspectives), I have chosen to preach through this one for a few different reasons.
Preaching Can Be Expository and Engaging
As hundreds of teenagers spilled into the auditorium, I was going through last-minute preparations to preach. As I went to get my microphone, a pastor introduced himself to me and wanted to chitchat before the service began.
“So which one are you?”
“Umm…I’m not sure what you mean.”
“We come to this event every year, and there are only two types of preachers that they invite to speak. Either they are very theologically sound or very engaging to our students. The theologically sound ones are painfully boring and must think it is a sin to be engaging. The guys that are very engaging often struggle in their theology and I have to clean up after them. So, which one are you going to be?”
Honestly, I had a difficult time thinking of how I wanted to respond because I was so brokenhearted about his perspective and my fear that he was correct.
Multiply Yourself
The Multiply Initiative is our simple yet aggressive plan to multiply disciples. While we can multiply programs, events, services, and churches, the heart of strategy plan is when disciples begin to multiply themselves. If a new Christian simply replicated your life, would you be pleased with his or her maturity? PD 14 – Multiply Yourself Gathering Disciples Jesus first called …
Be a Disciple – Not a Consumer
Church isn’t about you. Christianity began with a sinless Savior sacrificing himself on a rebel’s cross, and yet we are still trying to divide his garments among us. It’s all about what we can get rather than what we can give. We treat Jesus like a lottery ticket expecting to cash in big on worldly treasures. We treat Jesus like …
Lamp to My Feet [And Not a Layout to My Future]
If a person believes in God, one of the most inevitable questions for him or her is: “What is God’s will for my life?” It’s an important one too. If God made you, then you should naturally consider what he wants for your life. When people ask for God’s will, they seem to want details more than direction. It never …
Overcoming Temptation
A critical element in discipleship is training someone how to overcome temptation. While everyone is tempted, particular people are more prone to certain temptations than others.
In order to overcome temptation, let’s identify Satan’s strategy, Jesus’ success, and our steps needed to succeed.
Silence, Solitude, and Sabbath
In our fast-paced society and our continuously-loud distractions, our eyes, ears, bodies, minds, hearts, and souls need margin.
The disciplines of silence, solitude, and Sabbath are meant to provide renewal for the disciple.
Fasting and Discipleship
Fasting is an important and yet overlooked spiritual discipline. While most disciplines encourage people to do something, fasting encourages people to do without something.
Fasting is the voluntary denial of physical food for spiritual purposes.
Prayer and Discipleship
A personal prayer habit is vitally important in the life of a disciple maker. Not only does it remind us of our dependence upon God for sanctification, but we must also model healthy prayer disciplines in our discipleship of others.
We learn how to pray by praying.
66 Themes [Memory Verse from Every Book in the Bible]
The lost of art of meditating and memorizing Scripture is a key discipline in the life of the disciple. Most believers know that Scripture memory is a good discipline but just don’t know where to start. If no one has ever trained you in this work, here is a workable method that might help. One Scripture memory collection that I …
Scripture Memory and Discipleship
While reading Scripture is vitally important, oftentimes, we forget what we have read as soon as we have closed our Bibles. The lost of art of meditating and memorizing Scripture is a key discipline in the life of the disciple.
We must discipline our minds to have the words of the Bible accessible even when a copy of the Bible is not available.
The Danger of Praying for Patience
In my life, I have prayed for patience in two ways: Lord, will you help me be patient? Lord, give me patience and will you give it to me now? The danger of the first request always comes from how God usually answers that prayer. He usually responds to that prayer by sending people and circumstances in your life to …
Doing the Right Thing in the Wrong Way
Is it possible to do the right thing but do it in the wrong way? No one would doubt that. Many a valid steps have been made for invalid reasons. Doing the right thing in the wrong way could actually be the wrong thing. Sinful motivations can cloud our actions. What about the motivation of joy? What if you …
Bible Study and Discipleship
A key component in personal discipleship is the practice of spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines are not meant to make you more liked by Jesus but more like Jesus. We discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness (1 Tim. 4:7).
No discipline is more important than regular Bible study because it encourages every other spiritual discipline.
Discipleship in the New Testament
[Guest Post by Bryce Staggs – Rocky Creek Pastoral Resident]
The writers of the New Testament show an importance in discipleship using the word “disciple” over 260 times and the word “Christian” only 3 times. We echo that discipleship is important, but do we know why it’s important, what we should teach, or how to do it?
Discipleship in the Old Testament
While the word, “discipleship,” is not found in the Old Testament, the concept is embedded from the very beginning. God’s people were to pass on a legacy of faith to the following generations.
Time Management and Personal Discipleship
We talk about making disciples, but do we make the time to do it? In this series of lessons, we must address time management as it relates to personal discipleship.
Defining Discipleship
We talk about making disciples, but do we know how to do it? In this series of lessons on Personal Discipleship, let’s pray that we start obeying the biblical mandate regarding discipleship.
Before we can make a disciple, we need to figure out what one looks like.
If He Brought You This Far…
Here I raise my Ebenezer, Hither by Thy help I’ve come; And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home. This familiar lyric to the hymn, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” warms many hearts and yet confuses many minds. What is an Ebenezer anyway? Most people are familiar with it due to Ebenezer Scrooge in the …
2017 Sermon Series Recap
As 2017 comes to a close, here is a list of the archived sermon series for the year at Rocky Creek. I have loved our time in the Word together and can’t wait to continue in 2018. For Such a Time as This January 22, 2017 1 Sermon Jonah February 12 – March 5, 2017 4 Sermons Titus March 12 …
What Will I Do With Jesus?
When people hear of Jesus, they either ignore Him, challenge Him, or worship Him. It was that way at the first Christmas and this Christmas. The people have changed but not the situation. When the wise men, pagan astrologers, made their way to Jerusalem to see the King of Jews who had been recently born, they stirred up a lot …
Fighting the Enemy in Pink Boxers
Have you heard the story about Zachary Boyd? Army Specialist Zachary Boyd, 19, of Fort Worth, Texas has gained unlikely celebrity after the Associated Press captured a photo of him fighting the Taliban in a bright red t-shirt, pink “I love NY” boxer shorts, and flip-flops. Boyd was asleep at his base in the Korengal Valley in the Kunar province …
15 Things You May Not Know About the First Christmas
We mainly focus on Jesus’ birth during the Christmas season, but the message of God taking on flesh to come and reach us is not an account that should only be reserved for 1/12th of the year! It is part of the beloved gospel! You may not be aware, but we get a lot of the account incorrect in our …
10 Bible Verses on the Exclusivity of Jesus
One of the best ways to abide with Christ is to memorize key passages on critical topics. One common question that people ask: “Is Jesus the only way?” Let’s hear what the Bible says about that. Here are 10 verses that speak to the exclusivity of Jesus. John 14:6 – Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, …
The Pointless Nature of Pointing Fingers
The old adage goes: When you point your finger at someone, three more are pointing back at you. It’s a fairly accurate statement but it doesn’t stop us from doing it. One of the easiest ways to distract people from our shortcomings is to point them out in other people. Politics: In recent weeks, I’ve watched at how Republicans have …
Interpreting Revelation
The final book of the Bible is full of glorious promises and yet significant challenges. While the entire Bible has interpretive challenges, none is so difficult as the Book of Revelation. In our last session of hermeneutics, let us focus on how to be unashamed in our accurate study of this final book.
Interpreting the Epistles
In our study of hermeneutics, the New Testament epistles are an important biblical genre on which to focus.
2018[ish] Sermons
As I began to plan for the 2018 preaching calendar, I asked the church to pray that I would receive clear direction. I set aside Sept. 26th as a day to fast, pray, and study. My specific prayer was to receive a good portion of clarity regarding 2018, but we all know that God does exceedingly abundantly above all we …
Interpreting Acts
The Book of Acts is a unique book in all of Scripture. Being the only narrative-based book in the New Testament that isn’t a Gospel, extra hermeneutical precaution must be made.
Interpreting the Gospels
As we approach the New Testament, the first hermeneutical task is to learn how to study the Gospels. The Gospels are the accounts written to portray the person and work of Jesus Christ.
The 5 Solas [Simplified]
The Protestant Reformation was a major 16th century European movement aimed initially at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. This movement literally changed the world. This year, we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation’s birth when Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses on the Castle Church in Wittenberg. As a result of the Protestant Reformation, Protestant denominations were …
Interpreting the Prophets
Interpreting the Old Testament prophets is an important hermeneutics’ skill.
While the prophets are historical literature, they are more like sermons commenting on the events than detailed reporting of the events.
Luther’s 95 Theses
On October 31, 2017, we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation’s birth. The Reformation started when a 33-year-old Martin Luther brought a hammer to church. Sometime during the day of October 31, 1517, he walked up to the Castle Church in Wittenberg and nailed his 95 Theses on the front door. The door served as a type of bulletin …
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