JY Bible Notes 聖經小筆記

  From: TFTW Bible College The definitions for the word translated “godliness” can mean “reverent” and “pious.” The word “pious” can mean “fidelity” and dutifulness.” If we try to put these things together we might say that “godliness” is living like God by being reverent, faithful, and dutiful to the Father.  Jesus fits the definition and is our example of godliness. “ And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. ” ( 1 Timothy 3:16 ) Living a godly life is being like God by reverently and dutifully obeying God like Jesus did. Think about when Jesus was about to go to the cross and die as the perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty for man’s sins. He did not want to go through the agony of the cross. No one would! He even prayed to God about avoiding it. “ And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying,

  From: TFTW Bible Collge Patience may be defined as the practice of temperance consistently over time. In other words, someone who exercises self-control over and over again may be called a “patient” person. Patience is one of those things that doesn’t come just by knowledge and understanding. It takes trials and tribulations. It takes chances for us to need to exercise self-control. And times, when we need to exercise self-control, maybe some of the harder times. “ And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; ” ( Romans 5:3 ) “ Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. ”  ( James 1:3 ) But, if we can consistently exercise self-control over time, then we will be adding patience to our lives.  The parable of the sower talks about the seed that had no root and only endured for a time. “ And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness

  From: TFTW Bible College Temperance is “self-control.” This is where we take the knowledge of what we have learned from God’s word and we let that knowledge take control of our lives. Instead of just acting or reacting how we might have done in the past, we let the word of God and the example of Jesus dictate our actions. We need to believe it is possible not to sin! Since we are human, we may accept the idea that we are sinners but incorrectly allow that to excuse future sins or be lazy about avoiding sin. This is a defeatist attitude and we get the idea that we will fail before we even get started! Jesus was human and had the same freewill to sin as we do. Yet, He showed it was possible not to sin, just as it was possible to sin. Every chance to sin is also a chance NOT to sin! “ There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, t

  From: TFTW Bible College We need to add knowledge to our virtue. We can’t do what is right if we don’t know what is right! Knowledge of God’s word is required. The requirement of knowledge is built into the purpose of life. “ Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. ” ( Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 ) We can’t keep the commandments of God if we don’t know what they are. We can’t be more like Jesus if we don’t know what He is like! Adding virtue means we start looking for what is right and we are open to receive it. Adding knowledge gives us information about what is right and helps us to learn it. Remember, the reason for gaining knowledge is twofold: 1) to grow as a Christian, and 2) to be able to teach others. “ Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all lo

 From: TFTW Bible Collge Virtue can be defined as “moral excellence.”  In essence, we are talking about what is right.  We need to add to our faith that which is morally good and right.  How do we know what is good?  It is good when it is approved of by God. The Bible is our source of learning what is approved of by God. “ All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. ” ( 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ) What we learn, how we correct ourselves, and how we know to do good works all come from the Bible. Once again, we need to be studying, learning, and then putting good works into practice. Looking for what is right is one thing, but we also need to be open to receive it. Some people sit and hear a preacher stating that the Bible says they need to stop doing something and the people say “Amen,” stating that they agree. But, then th

From: TFTW Bible College In  Matthew 25:14-30 , Jesus tells us that the kingdom of heaven is like a man who traveled into a far country and delivered goods unto his servants.  To one he gave five talents (amounts of money), to another two, and to another one.  After a while, he came back and asked them what they had done with what they had been given.  The ones with the five and two talents had taken the money and used it to earn more.  The master spoke to each one of them.  “ His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. ”  ( Matthew 25:21 )  A couple of things to note here: 1) the servants were called faithful, and 2) the servants had been busy working for the master in order to make a profit.  In contrast, the one who had been given one talent said, “ And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is  thin

From: TFTW Bible Collge In fact, the Bible makes it very clear that once you start following Christ, it is up to you to continue to follow Christ. Let’s look at some ways Paul’s writings in the Bible show us that you can “fall from grace,” or lose your salvation. Paul wrote to Christians in Corinth and said, “ Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. ” ( 1 Corinthians 10:12 ) Paul also wrote, “ For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.”  ( 2 Timothy 4:10 ) To “forsake” means to leave something behind on purpose. Apparently, Demas was working with Paul.   “Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlabourers. ” ( Philemon 1:24 ) But, using his own free will, Demas decided to leave the work of Christianity behind and did it on purpose. Paul explains the reason as the fact that Demas “ loved this present world. ” Demas forgot about the better life to come in Heaven a

  From: TFTW Bible Collge The Bible says, “ So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. ” ( Romans 10:17 ) We get a biblical faith by basing it on biblical evidence, the word of God. We do not construct our faith in our own feelings and ideas. If we place our faith in that, then we are just putting our faith in our own faith, and not the truth of God’s word. “ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ” ( Hebrews 11:1 ) Biblical faith is not blind faith but is based on evidence. In previous lessons we have seen the evidence for the existence of God, that the Bible is the communication from Him, and so forth. Our Christian faith must come by hearing and obeying the word of God! Therefore, a Christian must be a follower of Christ that is full of the faith that based on the word of God, a believer in that word, and one who practices the teachings of Jesus. A Christian is one who stays true to the example of life Jesus gave us and

  From: TFTW Bible College Singing is a way to musically talk to God and give Him our worship. Remember, that when we worship, we are approaching God to give Him our love, honor, and respect. Another purpose of singing is to teach each other. God saw fit for us to come together as an assembly, so there must be a good benefit to being together. Besides praying for each other,  we can teach, admonish (warn or correct), and remind each other of biblical truths through song. “ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. ” ( Colossians 3:16 ) Paul told the church in Colossae to put the word of Christ in them, and then he told them how to do it, by teaching and admonishing each other with songs. Singing has the purpose of teaching because the words are what is important. Great songs teach us great lessons about how to live and how to treat each other. Gre