Quick links to the passage: KJV NKJV NASB NIV

Our online bible study of 2John is now in full gear. If you would like to get involved in the next one, please fill out your name and email address to the right and you will be placed in a waiting list. When the next online bible study opens up, that list will be one of the first to be notified. Now to today’s quick observation.

These verses really have opened my eyes to how my children respond to discipline and correction. Also it has caused me to look back at my childhood at how I had responded to my parents when they disciplined and corrected me and how that attitude has influenced and molded my life now as an adult. I can say I am not too proud of my performance as a child during those circumstances. And I am trying to impress on my children about their attitudes during those times also.

God makes a big deal about this in these verses. Let us see what he says.

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Quick links to the passage: KJV NKJV NASB NIV

We are now in our online bible study of 2John. Could you benefit from being involved in a bible study? If so, please fill out your name and email address to the right and you will be placed in a waiting list. When the next online bible study opens up, that list will be one of the first to be notified. Now to today’s quick observation.

Money, money, money. Why does it always boil down to money? Have you ever thought that about some ministries? All they want is your money? Doesn’t God own everything anyways that He does not need my money?

Is this the correct perspective we are to have on money and God? Or does God have something to say about it? Let us look at our verses to find out.

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Quick links to the passage: KJV NKJV NASB NIV

With our online bible study of 2John now started, I am getting really excited for what God is about to do and what He is already doing in those participating and myself also. If you would like to get in on the excitement and participate when the next one starts, please fill out your name and email address to the right and you will be placed in a waiting list. When the next online bible study opens up, that list will be one of the first to be notified. Now to today’s quick observation.

In today’s world, we like to hear from others about how good we are, how smart we are, and how great we are. We as human beings really feed on the flattery. Sometimes we gorge on it so much, we distort the reality of who we really are as God sees us and our ultimate dependence on Him for all things. At that point we set ourselves up for real problems, for when that reality we constructed in our mind, built upon the flattery of others, comes crashing down, and it will, we find ourselves in a desperate situation that usually turns from bad to worse as we try to get ourselves out of that problem.

Now, what if we maintain the reality as God sees us, even when we are successful in what we do? How does that happen and what does that look like? Let us look at todays verses and find out.

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Quick links to the passage: KJV NKJV NASB NIV

Our online bible study of 2John is just getting started. If you are one of the ones that have signed up for the current one, check your email for the password to the posts and get involved. If you would like to participate when the next one starts, please fill out your name and email address to the right and you will be placed in a waiting list. When the next online bible study opens up, that list will be one of the first to be notified. Now to today’s quick observation.

This is a very popular and well quoted set of verses. We are so familiar with them that they become less effective in our lives. So lets look at an old familiar passage with fresh new eyes.

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Quick links to the passage: KJV NKJV NASB NIV

Our online bible study is just getting started. If you are one of the ones that have signed up for the current one, check your email for the password to the posts and get involved. If you would like to participate when the next one starts, please fill out your name and email address to the right and you will be placed in a waiting list. When the next online bible study opens up, that list will be one of the first to be notified. Now to today’s quick observation.

As you read these verses, I know what you are thinking, “There are two traits here.” And you would be correct. But there is a method in my madness. There is a reason why I am combining these into one trait and it is not because I want it to fit into a nice pattern with the rest of the sections of the six traits. Kindness (or mercy in NKJV) on its own is great. We should be kind toward others. And truth on its own is great also. Our lives should be characterized by truth.

But kindness on its own at some point will be naive or ignorant. And truth on its own at some point will be harsh. So how do we regulate the ignorance of kindness? Combine it with truth. How do we soften the hard facts of truth? Combine it with kindness. When done properly, kindness will not lose its softness and truth will not be reduced to mediocrity.

Solomon warns us not to lose kindness and truth in verse 3. So how do we do that?

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Quick links to the passage: KJV NKJV NASB NIV

Before we get started, we have closed the doors to the online bible study. If would like to participate when the next one starts, please fill out your name and email address to the right and you will be placed in a waiting list. When the next online bible study opens up, that list will be one of the first to be notified. Now to today’s quick observation.

Obedience, to some of us, seems like such an overbearing issue. A lot of people struggle with authority that has been placed over them, especially when it has been a difficult, or even possibly an abusive, issue in the past. I met someone recently that caused me to think about my issues of obedience.

My son had to go to the children’s ward of the hospital last month because of a medical condition he has. I am not going to go into all the details of that at the moment. There was another little boy there also who was missing his left leg just above the knee. When my son and I were in the common play area for the children’s ward, the boy shared with me what had happened to him. He was involved in a lawnmower accident. My heart when out to him. I thought about how much his future in now altered because of this incident. Then I remembered how much my father would warn me of the dangers of the lawnmower when he told me to cut the lawn. I must admit, I was weary of his advice over and over again. But if I did not obey what my father was telling me, that could have been me when I was younger.

Notice in the passage that Solomon asks obedience in two ways.

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Quick links to the passage: KJV NKJV NASB NIV

Just a reminder before we get started for you to sign up for our online bible study. We will be starting in the second week of June and spots are filling up so don’t miss out. It will be a great time of studying and learning to study the bible. I am really getting stoked about it because I can’t wait to see what God will do in our bible study. He never disappoints on delivering the goods when you study His Word. Now to the quick observation.

How many times have you heard people say this: When it comes to doing what God wants, I have it in my head, it just has not reached my heart yet. I must admit I have said it. We wonder if there is a special thing we need to do to get the stuff from our head to our heart. The fact of the matter is that it is an automatic process. What we digest through our eyes and ears will go directly to our inner self and influence us. Just examine when we consume media not honoring to God and how it influences us.

With that said, for some reason, it is longer to have the things of God go from our head to changing our lives than the things of the world. There is an element of the spiritual warfare going on with that. So we must keep influencing our lives with the Word of God and the things of God in order to influence our lives. We must not be passive but proactive in this endeavor.

When we actively apply wisdom to our lives and possess it for ourselves, certain results occur in our life…

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Quick links to the passage: KJV NKJV NASB NIV

Before we look at our quick observation today, time is running out and spots are filling up for our online bible study. Sometimes people want to receive something if they give their name and email address on a website. What will you receive if you enter your name and email for the online bible study? First, you will receive the blessings from God when you get involved in bible study anytime. Second, you will learn how to approach and handle God’s Word in a way that is honoring Him. Third, you will learn the life lessons God has in store for you. And fourth, whatever e-book comes out of this study, you will get a free copy as a thank you from us at Berean Bible Study because of your participation. So look at all you will get if you just put your name and email address on the right and we will see you in June in our online bible study. Now to the quick observation.

Did you ever find something or even owned it and at first did not realize its value until much later? You may have owned it and even got rid of it and afterwards saw how valuable it really was. Its value did not even have to be financial. It could have been sentimentally, morally, culturally or historically valuable. Would it have been nice if someone informed you its value beforehand, especially if you have already lost it?

Well I have good news for you because Solomon has done just that for you…

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Quick links to the passage: KJV NKJV NASB NIV

Before we start, let me encourage you again to sign up for our bible study that will take place online starting in June. If you ever desired to know how to study the bible effectively or if you struggle to get results from your bible study, then you need to put your name and email address in the box on the right and join us. You will not only learn the book of 2John, which is what we will be studying, but you will come away with the method of studying the bible and the confidence that you can do it. So go ahead and sign up. Now to today’s quick observation.

Last time we saw that wisdom was out in the public areas yelling to everyone a warning to turn to her. What happens to those who reject that warning? I grew up on Looney Tunes when I was a kid and my favorite was always the Coyote and Roadrunner. I liked all the inventions that backfired on the Coyote as he tried to catch the Roadrunner, but during the chase it was always inevitable that there was going to be some kind of road hazard ahead with a warning sign. And just as the Coyote was about to catch his dinner, the Roadrunner would heed to the warning but the Coyote would disregard it eventually to his impending demise, whether he would fall from a cliff, run into something, get hit by some huge object, or get blown up from some kind of explosive.

This is a comical retake to this passage here. What happens when we disregard wisdom’s warning? The outcome is not so funny.

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Quick links to the passage: KJV NKJV NASB NIV

There are just a few weeks left before our online bible study starts and spots are filling up. If you would like to take part, just fill out your name and email on the right and you will receive information in your email. I am really looking forward to this and I hope you are too. If I haven’t mentioned it, only those who sign up will be able to participate in the bible study. After that, the study will be made available to the public for a small fee. So if you want to be a part of it for free, just sign up. Now to today’s quick observation.

Have you ever been in a situation where you did not know what to do or how to handle it? I have definitely had my fair share of occasions where I wish I was wiser so that I knew what was best for a given situation. There are probably more times than I want to admit.

So where is the wisdom we need for our situations that we find ourselves in? Well, wisdom is closer than you think…

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