Biblical Lessons: Fifty-Two Topics

By Robert Ridings

Biblical Lessons: Fifty-Two Topics invites you to explore the Bibles teachings by listening to its wisdom, digging into the meaning of selected passages, and asking how the insights gained speak to your daily challenges and joys. Robert Ridings takes his long experience in leading weekly Bible studies and applies it to crafting a collection of studies that do not shrink away from asking the hard yet vital questions that probe the alternatives one faces: Is Christ part of my life, or is Christ my life? Do I really trust the Lord, or do I trust more in worldly things like money? Am I growing closer to God, or am I complacent?

This guide can work well for you if you are a Bible study leader charged with guiding a class through thirty-minute to one-hour studies. Each chapter in Biblical Lessons focuses on a particular topic, draws upon the full range of the Bibles books for its sources of insights, and asks pointed and probing questions that help to make the connections between the truths of the Scriptures and the details of living as Christians in the midst of trying circumstances.

Whats more, the lessons can provoke deep self-examination if you desire to follow the Lord more devotedly. These lessons aim to help you embrace the truth that Christians live life to the fullest when they live faithfully in Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 27, 2015
• ISBN: 9781512716580

Robert Ridings

Robert Ridings is a member of the American Association of Christian Counseling, where he was trained in biblical counseling, and has received a diploma from the local college in addiction counseling. He leads weekly Bible classes in prisons, the Frederick Rescue Mission, and with seniors. He and his wife live in Frederick, Maryland.

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Created in the Image of God

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)

What does it mean that you are be created in the image of God?

God created the first man from the dust of the earth and breathed life into him. People are the only living beings created in God’s image. We are triune beings, consisting of bodies, souls, and spirits. Our spirits are our connection to God, enabling us to commune with and worship God. Our souls are our personality, and our bodies are our flesh. Our spirits and souls live forever, and our flesh returns to earth.

Being created in the image of God includes both intellect and freedom. People can reason and make choices. People have mental and spiritual capabilities to create, write books, paint landscapes, write music, and compute mathematically. People feel the same emotions as God, including anger, sadness, and happiness.

God created the first people without sin, which we learn when we read Adam walked with God in the garden and then reflect on the insight that God cannot be in the presence of sin. We were created to walk with the Lord in a sinless state. God created humanity so he could enjoy the kind of fellowship that reflects his triune nature. It the beginning, Adam enjoyed fellowship with God, but God saw it was not good for the man to be alone, so he created the woman: The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’ (Genesis 2:18). It is a natural, God-given desire for man and woman to live as husband and wife. Satan will distort this relationship, just as he did to the people who lived in the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah, which God destroyed (Genesis 19:23–29).

In their book, God Attachment, Clinton and Straub say, Empirical evidence is now showing that we may be born with a desire for a relationship with a ‘Transcendent Other’ and that longing begins to reveal itself as young as three years of age.¹ God created us to have a relationship with him and to worship him with our lives. Adam walked in the garden with the Lord and had a relationship with God until he committed the first sin.

God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ (Genesis 3:3)

Adam ate of the fruit and died a spiritual death; his sin separated him from God. God created us with free will. Without free will, how can love exist? Love is a choice, and God wants his people to choose to know him and to love him.

Why did God create humanity?

God created humanity because he is love. God created humanity in his image, enabling us to enjoy fellowship with him for all eternity. We are created for God’s pleasure; he doesn’t need us, but he loves us perfectly and wants us to be with him. Since God created us in his image, he knows our ultimate fulfillment is to know and to be with him.

Adam sinned and experienced separation from God. However, God’s love for us—the children of Adam and Eve—is so great that God himself, through Christ, took the punishment for Adam’s sin, our sins, and all the sins of humanity. When we accept Christ as our Savior, the Father fills us with his Holy Spirit. Our sins are forgiven, and through the Holy Spirit, we can again have a relationship with God.

If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. (John 14:15–17 NKJV)

When we are filled with the Holy Spirit and live in the Spirit, we are living truly as beings created in God’s image. God’s design for us is to live as one with him through the Holy Spirit in this life and for eternity in the heavenly life.

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT)

God set eternity into people’s hearts. It is impossible for temporal things to fulfill the human heart. Only the eternal God can fulfill the eternal heart of each person. When people live in the Holy Spirit, they are complete and can live life to the fullest.

Living life to the fullest is possible when we have a mind of love and hope that overcomes a heart of fear, anger, or bitterness. God desires for us to live a life of love and hope with a mind of peace and confidence. We can live this life if we trust the Lord, know he is in control, and let him lead us through life with his perfect love for us.

The Word

The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. (John 6:63)

What does it mean that the Word is Spirit and life?

God’s words are Spirit and life. The Spirit gives life to our souls, is always fulfilling, and continues to be more fulfilling as we get closer to God. The flesh counts for nothing in bringing life to our souls. With the Spirit, we have a purpose for our lives—living for Christ in this life and for all eternity

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. (1 Corinthians 2:10–12)

The Holy Spirit—the Spirit of God—lives in the believer. When we read the Word through the Spirit, God’s thoughts are revealed to us. We will never know God or the reason we exist without reading his Word. We can read the Word every day for the rest of our lives and never stop hearing God speak to us.

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

How do we gain faith by hearing the Word of God?

The Word reveals God’s love for us, his promises, and his perfect guidance. He saved us, he loves us, he forgives us, he fills us with the Holy Spirit, and he walks with us through life into eternity with him. We need his Word to maintain our walk with him. In this way, we know him more and increase our love and faith. If we neglect reading his Word, we are walking away from God.

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. (1 John 2:3)

We seek the Lord by studying and walking in obedience to his Word. We cannot know God without being obedient to his commands, and we won’t be able to obey his commands without being in his Word.

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. (Hebrews 4:12 NLT)

We depend on the Word for strength and wisdom in our walk, enabling us to overcome the trials and tribulations of this life. We are sustained by God’s promises and infinite love for us. The Word is God’s voice speaking to us. God is telling us what he wants us to know at the time we are reading his Word. His words are alive and revealed through the Spirit, and the Spirit only speaks what he hears, (John 16:13).

The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living. Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair. They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb. (Psalm 19:7–10 NLT)

What is the importance of God’s Word in your life?

Listening to God

"Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you; O Israel, if you would listen to Me! (Psalm 81:8)

What are the ways you listen to God?

We can listen and hear the voice of God in

• his written Word, the Bible;

• our consciences;

• awe of his created world;

• responses to his Spirit, where God speaks thoughts into our minds;

• the witness of the Holy Spirit known through inner peace and joy;

• messages spoken by other people;

• experiencing God in our lives, and

• dreams.

Listening to God is like recognizing a familiar voice in a crowded room. We learn to recognize God’s voice as we go through our busy days. Even when our minds are distracted, it is possible to hear God’s voice. We must be quiet in the Spirit and turn our focus to what he is saying. If we schedule quiet times and specifically set them aside for communing with God, we will become more attuned to hearing his words. Prayer is how we begin a conversation with God.

Listening to God requires deliberate choice, training, and the development of the ability to control our thoughts. We can hear God’s voice even with the noisy world around us. It’s not