Life Lessons with Dr. Steve Schell

Ep 07 God's Top Ten: The Marriage Covenant, Ex 20:14

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. What's happening in America and Europe is that many are simply returning to the primitive sexual behaviors that dominated the ancient world before the Bible arrived. Infidelity and promiscuity were actually sanctioned and practiced by the official religions of the rest of ancient near east (TWOT. Vol 2, pp 542-543). Sacred prostitution (male and female) (Dt 23:1), regular prostitution (Lv 19:29), homosexuality (Lv 18:22), bestiality (Ex 22:19; Dt 27:21), and transvestitism (Dt 22:5) were common in the ancient world. So as we turn to the seventh commandment, we encounter a radically new way of thinking about sex. The idea that it should only be between a man and a woman and that it should only take place after a lifelong commitment has been made is so unnatural to human thinking it could only have come from God. Again, like the sixth commandment, He required only two words to say bluntly, "No adultery!" To understand this commandment we will first define the term "adultery," then reflect on the nature of the marriage covenant and finally we'll consider seven attitudes essential if we are to succeed in obeying it.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Hebrews, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

Ep 06 God's Top Ten: Attitudes that Kill, Ex 20:13

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 include hunting, lawful execution or a morally-justifiable war. He picked the word that would deny us the right to end a human life, including our own. Since human life originated with God, it belongs to Him, and therefore only He can decide who should live and who should die. This means that eliminating people is not an acceptable solution to our problems. Though it's possible for a person to do something so evil that their execution is called for by God's Word (Nu 35:29-34), yet the power to decide this is given only to duly established courts who are to be guided through the process by biblical principles. So the effect of this commandment is to force us to seek positive ways of resolving conflicts with others. If we understand the true spirit of this commandment, we realize God is forcing us to learn to love sinful people just like He does.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Hebrews, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

 

 

Ep 05 God's Top Ten: Honoring Our Parents, Ex 20:12

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 as a typical American. I live in a culture that viciously criticizes and ridicules its leaders, that avoids the elderly, and suspects that submission is a scheme invented by people who merely want to exploit me. Once again I am confronted with the fact that the way God thinks and the way my society thinks are vastly different. But if the Bible is really God's Word and He means what He says, I could release some powerful blessings into my life by learning what it means to "honor my father and mother," so let's look more closely.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Hebrews, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

 

 

04 God's Top Ten: The Sabbath Principle, Ex 20:8-11

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 be wise to leave references to Him out of our statements. Instead we should always seek to glorify the name of the Lord we love.

Now we turn to the fourth commandment which says, "remember the sabbath day to keep it holy." The "sabbath" is a much misunderstood concept in the church today. Certain groups have tried to reimpose a legalistic view and argue over which day of the week Christians must go to church, while others have decided the grace given to us in Jesus Christ means we have no obligation to give any day of the week to God. But clearly neither extreme takes seriously the truth Jesus revealed when He said, "The sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath" (Mk 2:27). His statement tells us God gave the sabbath as an act of kindness because He knew we would need it. He didn't intend to set up a ritual in order to receive glory from our obedience to an arbitrary set of rules. He knew we would need a day of rest and knew it would help us learn to love Him.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Hebrews, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

 

03 God's Top Ten: Using God's Name, Ex 20:7

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 to patrol our speech more carefully; His concern lies much deeper than that. He wants us to love and respect Him and knows that if we do our mouths will speak accordingly. Jesus said, "For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart" (Mt 12:34), and again on another occasion He said, "But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart" (Mt 15:18). So an honest evaluation of how we use God's name will tell us a lot about our spiritual health.

Today we'll listen to the warning God gives about using His name in vain, but we'll also look at the positive side of using His name. After all, as Christians we are people deeply associated with that name: we believe in His name, we pray in His name, we gather in His name, we serve in His name and we have been baptized in His name. Amazingly, we have been given the privilege to use "the name which is above every name..." (Php 2:9).

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Hebrews, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

 

02 God's Top Ten: No Other Gods, Ex 20:1-6

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 more deeply at the first two: 1) You shall have no other gods before Me (v 3); 2) You shall not make for yourself an idol (v 4). In order to understand them better, it's helpful to paraphrase verses 1-11. God's message in these verses is this: "I have already proved My love for you, My power, and My faithfulness by delivering you from Egypt and bringing you safely here. Now I'm asking you to 'marry Me,' that is, to love Me, to be loyal to Me, to treat Me respectfully, and to regularly spend time in personal fellowship with Me. I warn you, if you promise to do so and then don't, I'll react like a wounded spouse, and I'll punish you until you repent. But if you continue to love Me, be loyal to Me, show Me respect and fellowship with Me, I'll pour on you the blessings I promised generation after generation until the end of time." When we realize what God is saying in these verses, it is amazing how tender and vulnerable He was being toward Israel. Really He should never have had to say these things in the first place because if people really love Him, it would be automatic.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Hebrews, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

 

01 God's Top Ten: The Law of Moses, Ex 20:1-21

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 know how to lead holy lives, and therefore God's presence could dwell among them. His goal was to use their nation to evangelize all the other nations on earth (19:6). But, for the most part, things didn't work out as He intended. People either ignored His laws, or looked for excuses to avoid obeying them, or used them to put others under a form of religious slavery, or tried to earn eternal life by practicing a superficial level of obedience. Of course none of these was the reason God gave His laws in the first place. But misunderstanding and misusing His laws didn't necessarily end with the arrival of Christianity. Sadly some still misunderstand and misuse them. So today we'll let the Apostle Paul explain why God gave the Law to Moses and how He wants to use that law in our lives. As we listen to him we'll hear the good news of the gospel in a fresh way.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Hebrews, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

Ep 05 Following the Call of God Series: Enduring in the Call, Pt 3

In order to be fruitful for God, it is not enough to simply realize that we are called to service, nor even to discover what that call is. We must give God time to produce fruit through us, and that means we must learn to be consistent in what we do and persevere in doing it over the long haul. But realizing this truth is much easier than living it out. There are many forces that are both within us and outside us that undermine our best intentions. Today's lesson will look at the last of ten different forces which make it hard for us to endure in the areas of service to which God calls us.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Hebrews, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

Ep 04 Following the Call of God Series: Enduring in the Call, Pt 2

In order to be fruitful for God, it is not enough to simply realize that we are called to service, nor even to discover what that call is. We must give God time to produce fruit through us, and that means we must learn to be consistent in what we do and persevere in doing it over the long haul. But realizing this truth is much easier than living it out. There are many forces that are both within us and outside us that undermine our best intentions. Today's lesson will look at the next few of ten different forces which make it hard for us to endure in the areas of service to which God calls us.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Hebrews, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy!

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

Ep 03 Following God's Call Series: Enduring in the Call, Pt 1

In order to be fruitful for God, it is not enough to simply realize that we are called to service, nor even to discover what that call is. We must give God time to produce fruit through us, and that means we must learn to be consistent in what we do and persevere in doing it over the long haul. But realizing this truth is much easier than living it out. There are many forces that are both within us and outside us that undermine our best intentions. Today's lesson will look at the first few of ten different forces which make it hard for us to endure in the areas of service to which God calls us. 

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Hebrews, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy!

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.