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This is the two-hundred-twenty-first lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.
I shudder to think how close I came to giving up on the Bible. Like many people, I tried for years to read Scripture in ways that were doomed to fail. My way of reading made the Bible hard to understand, and it made me think this book was perhaps too inscrutable or too out of date for me to pay attention to it.
Yes, it was convenient when other people picked out the good bits and made juicy quotes just perfect for a bumper sticker:
And then there is, “God helps those who help themselves.” Oops! That’s not actually in the Bible. But like many biblically illiterate people, I thought it was.
Heartache. Disappointment. Loss. Depression. Loneliness. Feelings of despair can overtake us and cause us to mentally, emotionally, or physically break down. But what does the Bible say is the answer? How does trusting God and applying biblical instruction in our lives lead to healthy and hopeful living? How is God’s grace sufficient?
Bible Gateway interviewed Jacob Armstrong (@armstrongjacobc) about his book, Breaking Open: How Your Pain Becomes the Path to Living Again (W Publishing Group, 2022).
What message are you communicating with the title of this book?
Jacob Armstrong: Breaking Open is all about acknowledging a common ache, acknowledging that we all have places of pain, and that it’s actually in acknowledging this ache and facing it that we find the path to true life. As a pastor for 20 years of people of different ages, races, and life experiences, I’ve seen lots of differences in people. Culturally, financially, and politically.
But all the people I’ve had the pleasure to be around have one thing that’s familiar to them; one shared experience. What we all share is an ache. Everybody I’ve ever talked to has this same ache. It’s a longing. And I feel it too.
Tenets of the Christian faith were encapsulated in the Apostles’ Creed and have been recited repeatedly by Christians for millennia since it was written a few hundred years after the birth of Jesus. While not composed by the apostles of Christ, it contains a brief summary of their teachings as recorded in Scripture.
[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, Why Creeds are Still a Big Deal: An Interview with Justin Holcomb]
Perhaps you wonder where in the Bible each element of the Creed is reflected. The following list of Scripture references for each of the Apostles’ Creed’s phrases is found in the NIV Teen Study Bible (Zondervan, 2022), which includes features that explain each thought from the Apostles’ Creed, tying it with the Scripture passage it reflects.
By Dondré Whitfield
A male’s first power is his physicality (i.e., warrior mode), but a Man’s true power is his vocabulary. His vocabulary is like a ring of keys for a locksmith. Each word holds the potential to unlock something in him or in someone else. His words are like a “protein” that builds someone up rather than a “kerosene” that burns someone down.
Every Man is like the firefighter of his home. He is responsible for putting out fires, which creates more calm so that the environment he is in does not turn into a chaotic towering inferno. While his job as a firefighter is to put out fires, he is first responsible for making sure that he himself is not on fire. A Man who is on fire will surely be challenged in not setting his own house on fire. As a firefighter, he has to wear flame-retardant clothing on his spirit to avoid being set on fire himself. He knows that if he is set on fire, he may set other people on fire as well. Remember, you are a firefighter; you are not a firestarter! Your job is to put fires out, not create them!
Now you may say to me, “Man, brother, that sounds good, but how in the world do I do that?”
For the month of August, we’ve gathered a collection of Bible verses that describe God’s characteristics; his attributes. We invite you to click the verse references below and read each of their contexts to grow your understanding of God and his nature.
Download and use this free daily August Attributes of God Bible Verses calendar every day:
Read this week’s Bible Gateway Weekly Brief newsletter
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⇨ FaithGateway Store
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What if the Bible were as easy to read as your favorite novel? Take away the leather and ribbons. Take away the sometimes-confusing annotations. Leave out all the study notes. And finally, assemble the books together in a relatable grouping by content or by author. Just the simplicity of Scripture making it easy to carry and reader-friendly. What if?
Well, wonder no more! The NET Eternity Now, New Testament (Thomas Nelson, 2022) Bible series reveals the history-shaping story of how Jesus Christ changed the world and what that means to you in a format that can easily fit into your reading list. This new series makes it easy and convenient to read God’s Word with its familiar paperback design that presents the New Testament books divided into five easy-to-binge volumes.
One of the most beloved passages about love in Scripture is 1 Corinthians 13. In verses 4-7, especially, Paul provides a blueprint of what love looks like in action.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
This pivotal passage is one of several you’ll understand, meditate on, and apply using our new free 5-day Bible study titled You Are Built to Love. Each day of the study walks you through a key Scripture on love, explaining its meaning and significance for your life. You’ll learn the deep meaning of God’s love according to his Word, gain insight into Jesus’ commands about love, discover how love leads to an abundant life, and much more. The following excerpt is a preview from this study on the passage noted above, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.
This is the two-hundred-twentieth lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.
“I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters.” 1 Thessalonians 5:27
Let’s imagine ourselves as believers in first century Thessalonica, Greece, the day that a letter was received by the leaders of the church—a letter from the founder of the church, the apostle Paul.
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