Life Lessons with Dr. Steve Schell

  It’s beautiful to watch someone minister in the power of the Holy Spirit. Everything seems to flow so easily and naturally, as if that man or woman effortlessly knew just what to say or do. But ministry is never as easy as it looks. There are many personal sacrifices and inner struggles that must take place before God can consider us fit for His service. Today as we look at the garments He desig...

Now that Israel had entered into covenant with God He ordered Moses to prepare a portable tent so He could travel with the nation and dwell in their midst. But the tabernacle was not to be a normal tent. God designed it down to the smallest detail so it would teach His people essential spiritual lessons. In all there would be seven major pieces of furniture and each symbolized a truth about God, a...

Rather than slowing down, the demands seem to be increasing. At times I look ahead at all I have to do and fear rises up telling me there’s no way I’ll have the strength to do what’s being asked of me. But more and more I also hear the Holy Spirit, just as the panic starts to accelerate, telling me, “Don’t look at all that’s ahead. Just take matters one at a time and turn to Me for help before you...

A covenant is fundamentally a commitment to a new relationship.  After a covenant has been formed a brand-new relationship exists.  Those who have taken part in the ceremony have been bonded together like the members of a family.  And one of the most ancient ways of expressing this new level of love and trust was to eat a meal together.  Somehow the very act of breaking bread together has always c...

Verse 7: The prayer tent Ex 38:8 the women serving in hosts • Laver from their mirrors • “Hosts” military term: ranks

What is a covenant? A solemn promise enforced by a curse one invokes on oneself. Obedience is also encouraged by promised blessings. When did the Old Covenant begin? Previous covenants: Adam, Noah, Abraham But when we speak of the New Covenant this is the covenant which has been replaced. The nation of Israel entered into a covenant with God. “All that the Lord has spoke we will do and we will be...

It’s one thing to ask me to not make an idol, or profane the Lord’s name, or work on the sabbath, or dishonor my parents, or murder, or break my marriage covenant, or steal, or lie, but it’s quite another when you look at the hidden motives of my heart and command me to be content with my lot in life. Now you’re in an area inside of me I hardly understand myself. You’re asking me to control someth...

  The ninth commandment: “You shall not lie about your neighbor”   Since the Ten Commandments are lessons designed to teach us to love, this commandment says simply that if I love someone I will not lie about them, nor will I lie to them. I won’t: testify against them falsely in court; destroy their reputation through slander; alienate those who love them by gossip.   In other words, I will not us...

When it comes to stealing, the human mind can be so creative it would be impossible to write enough laws to prevent it in all its forms. There are flagrant, aggressive ways to steal and subtle, passive ways. Some types are obvious while others could never be proven in a court of law because they depend on hidden attitudes of the heart. Who’s to say a misleading statement was intentional, or that a...

Today it’s not uncommon to hear the term “sexual revolution” applied to the dramatic changes our society is undergoing in its thinking about sexual behaviors. Those who use this term assume that a new view of sex is emerging out of the uninformed bigotry of our cultural past. But that’s not what’s happening at all. The only real sexual revolution in human history has been produced by the Bible. Wh...

The Lord needed only two words to produce the sixth commandment. He engraved into a flat plate of stone this simple statement, “Murder not!” Out of ten words which are associated with killing in the Old Testament, He chose the one which refers specifically to the killing of a human whether that person’s death is intentional (murder) or accidental (manslaughter). He did not use a word that would in...

It’s interesting that the first lesson on learning to love my neighbor as myself has to do with honoring those God has placed in authority over me as a child. And then He bundled into this commandment a warning that says my life expectancy, the availability of His resources and my progress toward achieving His plan for my life are contingent upon my obedience here. This is not easy for me to hear...

So far in our study of the Ten Commandments we first learned that God will not allow other gods in our lives. He forces us to choose whether we want His blessing or the help these other spirits can give. Next, we learned that He measures our love for Him in part by the way we speak of Him. We trouble our lives when we profane His name. If, at times, we feel the need to say something emphatic we’d...

Our mouths expose our hearts. Sooner or later our real beliefs and attitudes pour out of our lips. As hard as we may try to hide them it’s impossible to filter everything, and in those moments when we drop our guard our hearts speak what we really believe. That’s why in these lessons on how to love God (Ex 20:3–11) He draws our attention to how we use His name. His purpose isn’t simply to get us t...

We learned in our study of the “law of Moses” that the purpose of the Ten Commandments is to teach us how to love: first, to love God with all our heart, soul & might (Dt 6:5), and then to love our neighbor as ourselves (Lev 19:18). Considering these commandments as a whole, we see that the first four focus on loving God, and the final six focus on loving our neighbor. Today, we’re going to look m...

The Law of Moses was the code of rules and regulations which Israel agreed to live by as people in covenant with God. Moses didn’t invent these laws, he just wrote them down as God dictated them to him. And the “heart” of these laws is the Ten Commandments which the Lord Himself wrote down on two flat tablets of stone (24:12; 31:18; 32:15, 16; 34:1–4, 28). He gave Israel these laws so they would k...

The word “holy” is a strange word. It’s a word we use all the time in our worship songs and repeatedly ascribe to God, yet if asked to define the word, few would know what to say. We know it’s a good thing and that it applies to God. We may even be aware the Bible says it can apply to us as well, but again, we’re not sure what difference that makes in our lives. Today we’ll investigate this wonder...

The kingdom of God is all about bringing lost people back to the God who loves them. Those of us who love God know this about Him: He’s always reaching out to save more people and wants us to help Him do it. And to Him it’s always an urgent matter because He sees the eternal destiny of people. To be successful He needs to be constantly producing spiritual leaders because without enough leaders His...

No sooner had rivers of water flowed out of the rock at Rephidim than Israel experienced a vicious, unprovoked attack. The Amalekites were distant relatives (Ge 36:12) and therefore should have welcomed the news that Jacob’s descendants had been freed from slavery in Egypt, but instead they sent an army to attack when Israel was “faint and weary” (Dt 25:18). In fact, the Amalekite soldiers deliber...

Jesus Christ did not simply die to forgive our sins. If that were all He did we would still have a wonderful gift for which we would be eternally grateful. But when we believe in Him we also receive another gift. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit who, because we have been made holy by our faith in Jesus, can join Himself to us forever. Not only are Christians forgiven but we are also filled and th...

Using “manna” the Lord taught Israel to depend on Him daily and commune with Him once a week. We no longer get up in the morning to go out looking for manna on the ground, but the spiritual principles modeled in this event should still guide us in our walk with God. In fact, I believe Jesus deliberately drew our attention to the manna when He taught us to pray, “give us this day our daily bread” (...

Most people have no problem theorizing that God is powerful enough to help them if He wants to, but if asked the question, “Does He want to?” their answer is far less confident. Either they aren’t sure whether God wants to help them or not, or they may admit they actually suspect He may be the One who brought the problem upon them in the first place. So when it comes to asking for help, many peopl...

The next day, after Jesus fed about 15,000 people with five barley loaves and two fish, a crowd of people found Him and tried to convince Him to again miraculously provide them with bread. He refused, but picked up on their reference to the manna in the wilderness (vs 31–33) explaining that they had not understood the real message in the miracle of the manna. The real message was that God would so...

  What is worship? Worship is not a means to an end—it is an end in itself. Westminister Confession: What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Those who know God love Him and those who love Him long to glorify Him. It is impossible to be in His presence and not change. We either draw near and listen or harden ourselves and pull away. “In His image”: one person with anothe...

How is it possible that only three days after a miracle of the magnitude of parting the Red Sea that people could fear they would die of thirst? And then only a few days after God turned a briny pond into a pool of fresh water they could angrily complain “…you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (16:3). As we read these accounts the most amazing part i...