2016-2nd Qt The Christian in the 21st Century IPad BibleTube

"The Christian and the 21st Century: Lesson Twelve""1.In Matthew 5:14, how does Jesus describe Christians? What real-world comparisons does""He make in 5:14-15? In 5:16, what does He urge us to do? What does this mean for our lives?""2.Each of the passages listed below describes a responsibility we may have as Christians.""For each text, identify the responsibility and explain how fulfilling the responsibility helps us shine as lights in the world.""• 1 Peter 2:13-15""• 1 Peter 2:18-19""• Romans 13:6-7""• 1 Peter 3:1-2""3.Each of the texts below describes a behavior that will cause us to shine like lights in the""world. For each text, identify the behavior, discuss what each should mean for the way we live, and explain how it will help us to shine.""• Philippians 2:14-15""• 1 Peter 2:11-12""• 1 Peter 4:15-16""4.Listed below are several passages that discuss a way in which our speech should help us""to shine. For each passage, identify the word or action being encouraged, explain why it is helpful, and discuss how we should practice it.""• 1 Peter 3:15""• 2 Timothy 1:7-8""• Titus 2:7-8""• 2 Timothy 2:24-26"

"The Christian and the 21st Century: Lesson Eleven" "1.It is commonly asserted that Jesus taught nothing about homosexuality. What subject" "does Jesus discuss in Matthew 19:4-5? What does He say about it? Does this reveal anything about the practice of homosexuality? Why or why not?" "2.In Romans 1:24, what is God described as doing? How does 1:25 explain God’s action?" "Why is this text significant to this topic?" "3.What is God described as doing in Romans 1:26? How does 1:26-27 explain this description? Is there any legitimate doubt about the subject of this discussion? Why or why""not? Why is this important?" "4.What happens in Genesis 19:4-5? In 19:24-25, what does God do in response? Is this important to us today? If so, why?"" ""5.It is sometimes argued that the sin of the men of Sodom was their failure to show""hospitality to guests. What does Jude 7 say about the people of Sodom? How does this relate to the above argument?""6.What groups of people appear in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10? What is true of them? Why is this""important?""7.In 1 Corinthians 6:11, what does Paul reveal about some members of the Corinthian""church? What happened? Why is this significant?""8.What does Hebrews 4:15 reveal about Jesus? Is it a sin for anyone to be tempted? Why""or why not? Is it a sin for a man or woman to be tempted to practice homosexuality? Why or why not? What should this teach us?""9.According to James 4:17, what is sin? How is this passage relevant to \\\\our""understanding of homosexuality?""10.What three groups of people does Jesus describe in Matthew 19:12? What is He talking""about here? What does Jesus encourage? What does this mean in the context of homosexuality?""11.Advocates of the practice of homosexuality often argue that it is unjust to expect Christians with homosexual inclinations to remain celibate all their lives. Are such Christians the only Christians of whom celibacy is expected? The story of Ezra 10:18-19 may help you""answer. Why is this important?""12.What does Jesus say in Matthew 13:45? In 13:46, what does this merchant do? What""should we learn from this? How should this shape our understanding of homosexuality?"

The Christian and the 21st Century: Lesson Ten 1. In Colossians 3:5, how is covetousness described? Why is this true? What should it teach us? 2.What does Paul reveal in 1 Timothy 6:6? How does he explain this in 6:7? What attitude does he endorse in 6:8? What makes this attitude so counter-intuitive today? How can we develop it in our lives? 3.What different attitude is discussed in 6:9? What does this lead to? How does Paul explain this in 6:10? According to Paul, how severe can the consequences be? What should we take from this? 4.What is Jesus asked in Luke 12:13? In 12:14, what reply does He make? Accordingto12:15, what related warning does He issue? Why is this warning important today? 5.Who is the subject of the parable that begins in 12:16? According to 12:16-17, what is his situation? According to 12:18-19, what does he resolve to do about it? What flawsare evident in his thinking at this point? 6.In 12:20, what happens to this man? What does this reveal about his plans? What general application does Jesus make of this in 12:21? How can we avoid this trap today? 7.Whom do we meet in Luke 16:1? According to 16:1-3, what problem does he have? In16:4-7, what solution does he arrive at? What do we think of his solution? 8.What happens to this man in 16:8? Why? What does Jesus urge in 16:9? What does this mean? 9.What does Jesus state in 16:10? What rhetorical questions does He ask in 16:11-12? What’s the point? What warning does He issue in 16:13? What should this teach us? 10.To whom is 1 Timothy 6:17 addressed? What does Paul urge them not to do? What does he urge them to do? Why? How should we apply this text today? 11.In 6:18, what does Paul instruct this group to do? According to 6:19, what will the result of this be? How should we practice this instruction? 12.In Matthew 6:19, what does Jesus tell us not to do? Why? In 6:20, what does He tell us to do? Why? In 6:21, what explanation does He give? What should we understand from this?

Lesson Nine: Time Management Word Versus Deed It is fair to say that my father is a cynical man. He likes to joke that one of these days, he’s going to collect all the cynical things that he and other members of my family have said, inscribe them on sheets of bronze, and entitle the result The Book of Bassford. Were he ever to compile such a book, the first entry would be, “People always find the time to do what they want to do.” If we’re really committed to doing some-thing, we’ll find a way to fit it into our lives. If we aren’t, we’ll shrug and say, sincerely but incorrectly, “I couldn’t find the time.”This principle is useful for the way it illuminates the priorities of others, but it is especially useful when we apply it to ourselves. What really matters to us is revealed not by our fine words and good intentions, but by what we actually do. The choic-es that we make accurately reflect our priorities. In particular, those choices accurately reflect the im-portance we place on God. If we give Him all kinds of lip service but can’t find the time during the week to serve Him in truth, our lives show He actually isn’t very important.As the Bible repeatedly says, failing to put God first is a disaster in the making. If we aren’t giving God our time, we need to make the time to give Him. The more we do this, the more our devotion to Him will in-crease. The Lord has said that where our treasure is, our hearts will be also, but it is also true that where our time is, our hearts will be there too. This material is subject to a Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial-no derivative works license. This means that it may be reproduced, shared, and used freely, provided it is attributed to the author, not used for commercial purposes, and not altered in any way. For more information, please see creative commons.org

Lesson Eight: Anxiety -Anxious for Nothing- At first glance, Paul’s admonition to “Be anxious for nothing” appears utterly unhelpful. It reminds me of the bad old days back when I was still single and dateless, and well-meaning friends would tell me, “Just relax and be yourself, and eve-rything will be fine.” In other words, the path to success was not caring about something I cared very much about. How helpful!It’s easy to read the Biblical warn-ing against anxiety in the same light. For many of us, anxiety is as omnipresent as the air we breathe. We’re worried about our jobs, we’re worried about our finances, we’re worried about our families, and Jesus and His disciples come trotting into our lives and tell us to quit. Once again, how helpful!However, we would do well to heed the divine injunction. Even in prac-tical terms, anxiety isn’t useful. It drains us of the energy that we might use to solve our soluble prob-lems, and if the problem is insolu-ble, why fret over the inevitable?In spiritual terms, anxiety is even worse. It is a symptom of foolish reliance on the self. In reality, there is nothing that any of us can do of ourselves to make our work suc-cessful or our finances stable or our families happy. All of those bless-ings are in the hand of God, to give or withhold as He chooses. They do not lie within our power. The only thing we can control is our relation-ship with Him. All we can do is seek His kingdom first and trust Him to provide for us all the other things that we need. Anxiety accomplish-es nothing. ©Copyright Matthew W. Bassford, 2013. This material is subject to a Crea-tive Commons attribution-noncommercial-no derivative works license. This means that it may be reproduced, shared, and used freely, provided it is attributed to the author, not used for commercial purposes, and not altered in any way. For more information, please see creativecommons.org

Lesson Seven: -Depression- The Unlikely Foe At least from a surface perspective, the United States of America should be one of the happiest nations ever to grace the planet. Most parts of our territory haven’t felt the hand of war for a hundred years or more, even the poor among us know a level of prosperity that would pro-voke envy among the wealthy of 2000 years ago, and our abundance of natural resources and strong government seem likely to safe-guard these things for the foreseea-ble future. Nonetheless, the United States has higher reported rates of depression than any other nation on earth, even those with a medical estab-lishment as well developed as our own. Each year, 3 to 5 percent of American men and 8 to 10 percent of American women will experience a major depressive episode. The number of people this affects is well into the millions; the economic and emotional toll on society is incalcu-lable. Apparently, not only can money not buy happiness, it may even make the situation worse.The causes of and treatments for clinical depression are well beyond the scope of any Bible class, but an acknowledgment of the problem is not. The disorder has a spiritual dimension too, and it may well lead Christian sufferers not only to hide their condition for fear of the judg-ment of others, but also to shrink back, both from their brethren and from their God. We must learn to deal wisely and compassionately with one another in this area, lest we make an already dangerous problem worse. ©Copyright Matthew W. Bassford, 2013. This material is subject to a Crea-tive Commons attribution-noncommercial-no derivative works license. This means that it may be reproduced, shared, and used freely, provided it is attributed to the author, not used for commercial purposes, and not altered in any way. For more information, please see creativecommons.org