The Amazing Bible. Book Club

The Gospel of Mark is the only gospel who called Jesus, the Son of Mary (6:3), plus mark included sisters in his "family of God" in 3:21. Mark compares the poor widow who gave only two small copper coins, yet gave all she had, to the rich who gave out of their wealth (12:41-44). In 14:8-9, the woman who anointed Jesus for burial was criticized by the disciples, but Jesus praised her and...

Mark begins this section with Jesus sending out His disciples two by two. He gave them authority over evil spirits. They preached repentance, and healed many. Before we hear about their report on their mission, we have the story, or the meat of the "sandwich" which told the story of John the Baptist being beheaded. Once that story is finished, Mark finished up the story of the twelve apo...

Mark starts with quotes from the OT (Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3), about the messenger who prepares "the Way" for the Lord, and he points out throughout the book, that there are people who go their way, but He invites people to follow His way. The problem is His way leads through suffering, but after that comes glory. Some people like Blind Bartimaeus, who once sat on the side of the roa...

Mark starts, not with the genealogy of Jesus like Matthew did, and he did not start with the birth of Jesus, like Luke did, but instead he started with a disciple of the Lord, John the Baptist, a faithful servant who in chapter one was arrested, and in chapter 6 was put to death. Jesus then called his 12 disciples, and many are said they "immediately," left it all and followed Jesus. Mar...

In this lesson, we look at the various roles of Jesus found in the gospel of Mark. The book begins and Mark calls Jesus the Son of God, and the book ends with the Centurion who saw how Jesus died, and he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God." In the middle God the Father says, "You are my Son, whom I love" both at Jesus' baptism and on the Mt. of Transfiguration, and...

In these last two chapters of Galatians, Paul shared that since we are saved by faith in Jesus alone, and that is what justifies us before God, not our works, we are to live in freedom, not be in bondage again to the sinful nature. Circumcision, or other works of the law, do not make us right before God. Verse 6b, "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Beli...

The apostle Paul starts off chapter 4 with an example of a child who is an heir, but unable to receive any money until he becomes the age which the father sets. A guardian or trustee watches over the child until that time comes. Then Paul says in verse 4, "But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the...

In chapter 3, Paul draws from the Old Testament to show that faith came first through Abraham before the law came with Moses, which shows that faith supersedes the law. Paul then says that all who have faith are blessed like Abraham. He also explained the problem with the law was that it cannot produce righteousness, because all humanity has sinned, and we cannot fulfill ALL of the law. Verse 13 s...

Chapter two of Galatians continues Paul's story of his calling and ministry, and now it is fourteen years later, and Paul, Barnabas, and Titus, spoke to the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. The topic was do Gentiles need to become Jews in order to become Christian? No, they do not, because we are saved by faith not by the law. Paul and Barnabas were given the right hand of fellowship and r...

We learn in the first chapter of Galatians, that Paul the apostle was not called by humans, but by God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. They only deserve the glory. We also find that Paul is not happy with the churches in the region of Galatia, because someone has come and distorted the gospel, the good news of Jesus, (and we learn later it was by adding circumcision to their faith), and Paul...

We find in these chapters the reason for Paul's second letter to the church at Thessalonica, and that was they received word that the Lord Jesus had come back and they missed it. Paul encouraged them to remember what he had told them while there, plus to trust the letters that he sent. He explained the things that must take place before Christ comes again, and then he encouraged the church to...

This is Paul's second letter to the church at Thessalonica, which was probably a few months after his first letter. Paul started the church there, but then he had to leave due to persecution, so his first letter was sent with Timothy to make sure that the church was still growing. In this second letter, Paul is thankful that they are still growing in love for each other and their faithfulness...

With these last two chapters of Paul's letter to the church at Thessalonica, he gave instructions on how to live in Christ. Believers are to live in such a way as to please God (4:1) and to love others (4:10), and both of these we are to do "more and more!" Paul also addressed sexual immorality, loving believers, living in such a way as to not be a busy body but that we would draw r...

Paul wrote this letter on his second missionary journey. He had to leave Thessalonica because Jews had caused a riot, so Paul and Silas left at night and left to Berea, but the Jews in Thessalonica followed them there, so Paul sailed on to Athens and then Corinth, and Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea (Acts 17:14). Paul kept hoping to go back to the new church there, but "Satan stopped us&quo...

The letter of James is an exhortation to encourage his readers to stay faithful, and this type of writing is called a Paraenesis. They have 5 characteristics, 1) commands or imperatives, 2) the use of moral examples, 3) a close relationship between the author and recipients, 4) the use of traditional materials, and 5) that it can be applied to everyday life. James has all five in his letter. The m...

These chapters cover the kings of Judah during the divided kingdom. After Solomon died, his son Rehoboam told his people he would be harder on them than Solomon so the people rebelled, and the ten northern tribes broke away from the southern two tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Rehoboam tried to get them back by force, but the Lord told him to not fight against his brothers, because the Lord said it...

These chapters cover the reign of king Solomon, the son of David. The Chronicler wrote to encourage his readers that God was in the midst of their history, and therefore would be in their future as well. Solomon's kingdom was the greatest in Jewish history, yet king David was the greatest king in their Jewish history because of his faithfulness to the Lord. The writer reminds his readers of t...

Now that king David is established in Judah and Jerusalem, he has a desire to build the Lord a house, but the Lord tells him he cannot because David shed blood in battle, but his son Solomon will build it, and his kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom. David was amazed at the Lord's words to him. Chapters 18-20 tell of David's victories in taking land and fighting the enemies, but then...

After the genealogies in chapters 1-9, the Chronicler starts with the death of King Saul, and in verse 13 he explains it was because of Saul's unfaithfulness to the Lord. In chapter 11, David becomes king of all Israel, as the Lord had promised through Solomon (11:3). David conquers Jerusalem, the city of David, and many mighty men join David. Chapter 12:22 says, "Day after day men came...

The book of First Chronicles was written to encourage the Israelites to have hope, even though life is not the same back from exile, their God is still faithful to His covenant. The covenant with Abraham said his descendants would outnumber the stars in the sky, and so reading these first nine chapters with the majority of them being his descendants helps the reader to have hope that God will keep...

The name Malachi means messenger, and he shared about the messenger we know as John the Baptist, and of the One who will come who has nothing false found on His lips, Jesus. This small book deals with six issues between the Lord and His people. Since they were not a free nation and under Persian rule, and with conflict with neighbors, as well as other difficult times, they did not believe that God...

The Israelites assemble again, and this time they repent of their sin, and the Levites remind them of their history with the Lord God of Creation, who called Abraham, led them to and from Egypt, gave them the Law of God through Moses, but then the focus shifted to the sinfulness of their ancestors, yet the Lord was faithful. They then acknowledge their disobedience which led them to a binding agre...

Now that Nehemiah is in Jerusalem, he has organized the people to build the walls. One thing he did was place people in the section of the wall which was located by their homes, which gave them personal investment in building it. The Jewish enemies still tried to stop them from building, but Nehemiah continued in prayer and in leading the people, and they built the wall up to half its height! More...

Nehemiah, who was the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes of Persia, received word that the exiles in Jerusalem and Judah were "in great trouble and disgrace," which caused Nehemiah to mourn, fast, and pray. The majority of chapter 1 is Nehemiah's prayer on the day that he was going to address the king with his request. His prayer was full of Scripture especially from the book of Deuterono...

In the Hebrew Bible, Ezra and Nehemiah are included as one book which are included in the section called writings. Ezra focused on the returned exiles rebuilding and finishing the temple, and now Nehemiah focuses on the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Throughout the time of the exile's return, they suffered persecution from those living in the surrounding areas. Ezra's group of exi...