Basic Bible Christianity

1. Basic Bible Christianity Lesson Fifteen Take good care

2. Search the Scriptures • Study James 3:1-12. • What can teachers expect? Why? • They will be judged more strictly. They are responsible for others. • The tongue is compared to a • bit in the mouth of a horse, rudder of a ship. • The tongue causes trouble because it • makes great boasts. • Just as a forest is set on fire by a spark, the tongue is • a fire. It corrupts the whole person. Lesson 14 Love Your Neighbor – Part 2

3. Search the Scriptures • What incites the tongue to such evil? • It is set on fire by hell. • What is impossible to tame? • The tongue • What inconsistency or hypocrisy is noted in verses 9 and 10? • With the same mouth we praise God and curse men. • What point does James make in verses 11 and 12? • Bad speech should not come out of good people. Lesson 14 Love Your Neighbor – Part 2

4. True or false T F T T F Coveting and stealing both flow from a lack of contentment. In God’s eyes, some sins are morally more reprehensible than others. Sometimes giving people what they ask for isn’t the most loving thing we can do for them. It is much easier to talk about someone than it is to talk to someone when they’ve sinned. We obey the commandments out of love for God, to please God, and to win God’s favor. Lesson 14 Love Your Neighbor – Part 2

5. True or false T F T T T God is concerned not only with sins of our lips and hands but also with secret sins of our hearts. The Ninth and Tenth Commandments are the easiest commandments to keep. When we are content and secure in God’s grace, we don’t need to worry about image and status with others. God wants us to be proactive in meeting the needs of others. The commandments beat us up spiritually because we see clearly how we have broken them. The gospel forgives and heals us. Lesson 14 Love Your Neighbor – Part 2

6. Questions for discussion Sometimes when we fly off the handle, we say things we don’t mean. Fits of fury can cause vicious words to flow between neighbors, between spouses and family members, even between friends. Why is this so dangerous, and what steps should be taken to avoid such verbal episodes? Are you content with what you have? When you find yourself lacking contentment, what is the reason? How can you enjoy true contentment and real peace in your life? Lesson 14 Love Your Neighbor – Part 2

7. Questions for discussion One person manages billions of dollars without skimming a penny. Another person shoplifts merchandise worth a few dollars or only a few pennies from the department store. Without reference to faith, what is the difference between these two people? Jesus says that a person who is faithful in a few things will be put in charge of many things (Matthew 25:23). How can you learn to be a better manager of God’s possessions? Lesson 14 Love Your Neighbor – Part 2

8. Basic Bible Christianity Lesson Fifteen Take good care

9. Opening Devotion Read Matthew 25:14-30. Lesson 15 Take Good Care

10. Much to Manage 1 Corinthians 4:2 1 Corinthians 4:2—Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. List some of the things that God has entrusted to you to manage. Lesson 15 Take Good Care

11. Managing the gift of time Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 Q: Time is among the most precious of gifts because A: it runs out. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Lesson 15 Take Good Care

12. Managing the gift of time John 9:4 John 9:4—“As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” 1 Peter 3:15 John 9:4—“As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” 1 Peter 3:15—In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. Q: What is one important reason God has left you in this world and given you time to manage? A: To do the work of God’s kingdom; to confess Christ to others Lesson 15 Take Good Care

13. Managing the gift of time Lesson 15 Take Good Care

14. Using your talents 1 Corinthians 12:14-31 Q: What happens in the church when gifted people do not find opportunities to use their talents? A: People think they are not as important as others. People think they are more important than others. Lesson 15 Take Good Care

15. Using your talents 1 Peter 4:10,11 1 Peter 4:10,11—Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. Q: Identify specific talents you have been given, and offer your thoughts on how you might be able to use them to serve others. Lesson 15 Take Good Care

16. Managing your possessions Ecclesiastes 5:10-15 Ecclesiastes 5:10-15—Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep. I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner, or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when he has a son there is nothing left for him. Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand. Lesson 15 Take Good Care

17. Managing your possessions Q: What attitude are you to have toward the possessions you have been given to manage? A: They are meaningless and temporary; the more we have the more we’ll want. Lesson 15 Take Good Care

18. Managing your possessions Malachi 3:8-10 Malachi 3:8-10—“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.“But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” Q: Under the Old Covenant, God required his people to return a A: tithe, one-tenth of their income. Lesson 15 Take Good Care

19. Managing your possessions Proverbs 3:9 Proverbs 3:9—Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops. Q: Under the New Covenant, the percentage God requires is A: not mandated, but the portion that goes to the work of God’s kingdom comes first. Lesson 15 Take Good Care

20. Managing your possessions 2 Corinthians 8:9 2 Corinthians 8:9—You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. Q: When we bring offerings to the Lord, we are to remember A: Christ’s poverty that has made us rich. Lesson 15 Take Good Care

21. Managing your possessions 1 Corinthians 16:2 1 Corinthians 16:2—On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Q: Our offering is to be A: in keeping with our income (percentage giving). Lesson 15 Take Good Care

22. Managing your possessions 2 Corinthians 9:6,7 2 Corinthians 9:6,7—Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Q: The proportion that we choose to bring is to be A: generous. Q: Our offering is to come from a A: willing attitude. Lesson 15 Take Good Care

23. Managing your possessions Proverbs 22:7 Proverbs 22:7—The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. Q: As much as possible, we do well to avoid going into A: debt. Lesson 15 Take Good Care

24. Managing your possessions 1 Timothy 6:6-10 Q: We are to be A: content. Lesson 15 Take Good Care

25. Managing your possessions Luke 12:13-21 Q: A fool may be rich in things, but a Christian is A: rich toward God. Lesson 15 Take Good Care

26. What’s on your mind? Questions about this week’s class? Time’s up!!!!