Bible Study Magazine—January–February 2016 Issue

J.D. Greear—Grow, Send, Repeat

‘I remember the night my seventh grade Sunday school teacher taught from Matthew 7, where Jesus says, ‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘LORD, LORD’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.’ I was convinced that was going to be me.’ J.D. Greear, author and pastor at The Summit Church of Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, grew up in a family with an active church life. But in his early teens, he constantly worried about whether he was really saved.

—Jesse Strong

Standing Firm: Ara Badalian on Ministry in Baghdad

‘I didn’t know anything about Christianity, except that I was a Christian,’ says Ara Badalian, now pastor of a vibrant church in the heart of Baghdad. Badalian grew up in Iraq’s capital city in an Orthodox household—his grandfather was an ethnic Armenian who came to Baghdad to escape the Turkish persecution following World War I. During Badalian’s childhood, Christianity functioned more as a family identifier than as a life-changing faith.

—Jesse Strong

Walk as You’ve Been Called

Ephesians is different than most of Paul’s letters. Paul is usually straightforward and earnest, but Ephesians is ornate, even wordy. Paul’s letters are usually personal, naming names and addressing specific issues, but Ephesians is formal—strange, considering that Ephesus was arguably Paul’s missionary ‘home church.’ Paul usually writes to address an issue, but the occasion of his letter to the Ephesians is not apparent, and the content addresses general, rather than specifc issues.

—Eli T. Evans

That It May Go Well with You

By quoting the Hebrew Scriptures, Paul shows the continuity of God’s plan for families. A unified, devoted family, one with a healthy respect for rightful authority, bring honor God, who created it.

—Kelley Mathews