From the Heart: Bible Studies

By Sally JoAnne Hughes

Two Rules For Life In Mark 12:29 to 31 Jesus said, "...The first of all the commandments is, Hear, Oh Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these." God's laws are not tough. They can be reduced to two simple rules for life: LOVE GOD AND LOVE OTHERS When you are uncertain about what to do, ask yourself which course of action best demonstrates your love for God and your love for others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098000509

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From the Heart

Bible Studies

Sally JoAnne Hughes

Copyright © 2019 by Sally JoAnne Hughes

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be resold, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Scripture quotations are from the THE HOLY BIBLE, ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION (ESV), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the ONE NEW MAN BIBLE, Copyright © 2011 William J. Morford. Used by permission of True Potential Publishing, Inc.

Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV), Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW KING JAMES VERSION (NKJV), Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission of Holman Bible Publishers.

Information and scripture taken from BIBLE EXPLORER, PREMIUM Edition, version 4. Windows Vista computer program. Copyright 1996 to 2009. WORDsearch Corp. and other copyrights. All rights reserved. Bible Explorer is a registered trademark of WORDsearch Corp. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. Made in USA.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Discovering A God I Never Knew

Archaeological Discoveries Of The Bible

The Beatitudes

Compassion

Jewish Feasts

Giving And Receiving Forgiveness

From Palm Sunday To Pentecost

A Class On Prayer

Heaven And Angels

Covenants And Promises

Fear - Healthy Or Unhealthy

The Apostle Paul - First Class

Class On Paul - Second Class

Class On Paul - Third Class

Paul’s Journey To Rome Begins In Jerusalem With His Arrest - Class 4

God’s Providence And Love, And Our Thankfulness

The Fruit Of The Spirit

Fruit Of The Spirit - Second Class

Fruit Of The Spirit - Third Class

TIPS ON USING THIS BOOK

When a word is underlined in a prayer, this is meant for emphasis. When the prayer is read, the teacher should teach students to emphasize that word. When emphasis is placed on certain words, it stays in your brain and means more to you.

In all classes, I deliberately made a separate sheet with the opening and closing prayers, to be handed out to your students so everyone can read the prayers together.

All lessons have bold black hashtag numbers along the left side of the page. These numbers coordinate with the worksheet.

The worksheets are notes for the student to take home. This is information that is important and scripture that is to be remembered. I have found that when students take the time to take notes on what you’re saying, they don’t hear what you’re continuing to teach. If you find that I have not put enough information on the worksheet, feel free to add what you think your students need to remember.

All teacher notes are in bold black.

On page 257 there is a list of all the books in the Bible, people who have Bibles without tabs can use this form to help them find the book being referenced easier. Since all Bibles are different, you could ask at the beginning of each new class if anyone would like to use this form.

As you move along teaching the class, I have found that it is easier to finish a full page of teaching, then do the worksheet for that page. Doing it number by number is a little too distracting.

Teachers should keep their copies of each class if you have made notes on it to improve the next time you teach that class.

Scripture used is given to make it easier for the teacher to mark your Bibles prior to class.

If you use an assistant, ask her to take notes during class also. Be sure to retrieve the assistant’s copy of the class so that you have their notes also.

All handouts are for the student to keep.

When I teach, I give everyone a folder. Papers can get numerous, so after each class, have your students staple all papers together. This helps them to not lose any notes or information on that class. Putting the worksheet on top gives them the name of that class.

Certain personal information of mine in any study may not be appropriate for you to teach. In reading the study prior to class, be sure to cross off anything you don’t think is relevant.

The class on Jewish Feasts, has different dates every year. You will have to look up those dates each year you teach this class.

During all of my research for these classes, I have come across many informational documents that make up the following pages. I have rewritten the information for most of them. I’ve included them in this Bible study book because I thought that you might find them interesting and may want to add them to any of the classes.

Discovering A God I Never Knew

Note to self: Mark all scripture in your Bible before class

Opening Prayer:

Holy Spirit,

What are you saying to me through this message?

Do I have a fear or some wrong ideas about you?

Please don’t allow these things to cause me to pull back from getting to know you.

You are my helper, you are my God.

I pray that you will break down any walls or barriers so that I can have a relationship with you.

In Jesus’ Holy name, we pray.

Amen.

When we were younger, the church didn’t talk about the Holy Spirit a lot. We always heard about God and Jesus, but not the Holy Spirit. When the subject was discussed, the priest always referred to it as the Holy Ghost.

What distinguishes a person from a thing? Is it life? A tree has life, but isn’t a person, right?

#1 A person has a soul. A soul includes our mind, which has thoughts, a will that has desires, and emotions that produce feelings.

Therefore, a person has thoughts, desires, and feelings.

The Holy Spirit has thoughts, desires, and feelings because He (the Holy Spirit) is God.

We have battles in our thoughts, right?

We have battles in our desires, right?

We have feeling that can be of a sinful nature, right?

So is it possible that the HS is trying to help us think like God thinks, desire what God desires, and feel what God feels?

#2 and #3

THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS A SOUL.

Let’s read Matthew 26:38. Then he said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’ This is Jesus speaking, right? Jesus is God, right?

#4

THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS THOUGHTS.

Now let’s read Isaiah 55:8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

#5

THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS A MIND.

Now let’s read Romans 8:27. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

And 1 Corinthians 2:16. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

#6 and #7

THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS A WILL.

Let’s move on and read Acts 16:6. Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.

This scripture shows how the Holy Spirit exerted His will.

Have you ever asked yourself, How can I ever know the will of God? God has a general will and a specific will.

The general will of God we know thru His Word. (This involves how to raise your children, how to be married successfully, etc.)

The specific will of God, such as Who should I marry? you will eventually know, by knowing the Holy Spirit that lives in you.

#8, #9, and #10

THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS EMOTIONS

Let’s continue with reading Galatians 5:22 and 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Now let’s read Ephesians 4:30. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

#11 and #12

Why do we grieve when we lose a friend or relative? We have lost the fellowship with that person. (Fellowship is defined as companionship. We have companionship with friends and relatives.) Even though your friend or relative has died, they are still your friend or relative. Because of Jesus, we are going to see that person again in heaven. So we aren’t grieving the loss of a friend or relative, we are grieving the loss of fellowship, the loss of a companion.

When we, as believers, sin or act contrary to Scripture by allowing corrupt and negative words to come out of our mouths, the Holy Spirit grieves. Let’s read Isaiah 59:2. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you. (Iniquities is defined as sin.) Therefore, the Holy Spirit grieves because He has lost fellowship with you.

So the HS is grieving the loss of fellowship with us.

What kind of fellowship can light (defined as God) have with darkness (defined as evil or sin)?

He can’t have fellowship with us when we are walking in sin.

When we sin, we choose to walk away from the HS.

Therefore, He is grieved by our sins because He loves us.

#13 SCRIPTURE HAS PROVEN THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A PERSON WHO HAS A SOUL, THOUGHTS, A MIND, A WILL, AND EMOTIONS.

BY WHAT OTHER NAME CAN WE CALL THE HOLY SPIRIT?

For this study, I looked at the book of John chapters 14, 15, and 16 (14:16 and 17, 14:25 and 26, 15:26, 16:7, 16:12 and 13).

I looked all these scriptures up in seven different Bibles, and there were:

4 Bibles that used the words helper and Spirit of Truth (ESV, ASV, KJ, GOD’S WORD)

1 Bible that used only the word Spirit of Truth (The Message)

1 Bible that used counselor and Spirit of Truth (NIV)

1 Bible that used Advocate and Spirit of Truth (NLT)

So for this lesson, as to what kind of a person the HS is, I will use the word Helper and Spirit of Truth.

#14 It is much better that Jesus went back to the father and sent the helper because He, the HS is in many people all over the world and that also allows us to have a personal relationship with him.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OUR FRIEND.

He is a kind and compassionate, gentle spirit.

#15

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OUR GOD.

Let’s go back to John and read 14:16 first. "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever" (Jesus, God, HS).

Verse 14:26 says, "But the counselor, the HS whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you" (HS, God, Jesus)

Then John 15:26 says, "When the counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me" (HS, Jesus, God).

One more scripture, Luke 3:22 says, "And the HS descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: You are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased" (HS, Jesus, God).

Let’s read Matthew 12:31 and 32, And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the son of man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the HS will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

This reveals how God feels about our helper.

#16

Therefore, when you blaspheme the Holy Spirit you are blaspheming God and Jesus.

#17

Here I would like to tell you about the name changes of Abram and Sarai.

I will read Genesis 17:15:

God added an h in Abram to make it Abraham.

God took out the i in Sarai and added the h.

H in Hebrew means spirit

Breathing haaaaa is the breath of God (as in God breathed in the breath of life into Adam).

Therefore, God added the spirit to both Abraham and Sarah.

THE LAST SUBJECT TODAY IS GOING TO BE ABOUT THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

The gifts that are given to us are to be used for ministering to others and encouraging people.

Let’s read 1 Corinthians 12:1. Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.

#18 1 Corinthians 12:4 to 11. "There are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing by that one Spirit. To another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and still to another, the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each person, just as He determines."

Did you hear the last line of that scripture, God is the one to determine who gets what gifts. The gifts are freely given among believers who accept and receive them, until the return of Christ.

There are nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, in three different categories:

Mind Gifts

Power Gifts

Vocal Gifts

Mind Gifts:

WISDOM (A DIVINE ANSWER OR SOLUTION FOR A PARTICULAR EVENT)

Example: John 9:29 to 33. We (Pharisees) know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, (Jesus) we don’t even know where he comes from. The (healed) man answered, Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man (Jesus) who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.

God gave the (healed) blind man an answer that he would have had no way of knowing.

KNOWLEDGE (TO KNOW SOMETHING SPECIFIC WITHOUT HAVING LEARNED IT.)

Example: John 4:16 to 18. He (Jesus) told her (the Samaritan women at the well). Go call your husband and come back. I have no husband, she replied. Jesus said to her, you are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.

Jesus, as a Jew, was not even allowed to speak to the Samaritan woman. Jesus stayed in that town for two days to save souls.

Now, you’re asking yourself, How did Jesus know that she had five husbands?

The Gospel of John gives us a clear chronology of the beginning of Jesus’s ministry and His encounter with the Samaritan woman.

(1) Jesus picks his disciples, (2) The Miracle at Cana, (3) Passover at the temple, (4) Jesus’s encounter with Nicodemus, (5) Jesus’s encounter with John the Baptist.

When John the Baptist saw the Spirit, like a dove, resting on Jesus’s head, he proclaimed Behold the Lamb of God. This was when Jesus was baptized and then, Jesus traveled from Judea to Galilee, the trail brought him through the town of Samaria, where Jesus encountered the woman at Jacob’s well.

I am giving you this chronology to show you that Jesus was already baptized when he had this encounter. He already had the Holy Spirit in Him because John the Baptist had Baptized Him. Also, let’s not forget that Jesus was fully man when He was here. Therefore, Jesus was able to reveal personal insight through the Holy Spirit. What was the personal insight? The woman had five previous husbands.

DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN SPIRITS (DEMONIC)

Example: Acts 16:16 to 18. Once when we (Luke and Paul) were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.’ She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her.’ At that moment the spirit left her.

Even though she was saying true things out loud, Paul was given the information from the Holy Spirit that this was a demonic spirit and it needed to leave this lady.

Power Gifts

WORKING OF MIRACLES (THE SUPERNATURAL ABILITY TO PRAY AND EXPERIENCE MIRACULOUS ANSWERS TO PRAYER)

Example: John 11:1 to 45. Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair… ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up…where have you laid him?’ He asked. Jesus, once more, deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ‘Take away the stone,’ He said. Jesus called in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out! The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go.’

HEALING (SUPERNATURAL POWER OF DIVINE HELP).

Example: Psalms 103:2 and 3. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.

This doesn’t mean that one person has this power, and when you get sick, you need to find this person. The HS that lives in you has the power to heal you; just ask and receive.

FAITH (A SUPERNATURAL COMMUNICATION OF BELIEF AND CONFIDENCE FOR A SPECIFIC SITUATION):

Example: Acts 20:21. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

Have you ever had a specific situation that to you is very questionable, then you get a thumbs-up from God, and in an instant you know everything is going to be OK?

Examples could be anything like a wayward child, a health situation, or job concerns. This thumbs-up from God is having faith during your situation. Another way of putting it is God works in the circumstances of our lives.

Vocal Gifts

SPEAKING IN DIVERSE TONGUES (THE SUPERNATURAL ABILITY TO SPEAK IN OTHER LANGUAGES. THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT).

EXAMPLE. ACTS 10:46. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Peter, a Jew, was speaking to Gentiles, hearing Gentiles speaking in tongues was confirmation that it was God’s will and that they were covered under the New Covenant.

Example: Acts 19:6. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

Paul spent three months with these local people teaching the doctrine of Christ.

Example: 1 Corinthians 14:6. Now, brothers, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction?

Paul explained that speaking in tongues is considered a prayer language of the Holy Spirit given to believers. This can be a personal kind of communication with the Holy Spirit. Paul continued to teach the Corinthians regarding the Holy Spirit.

PROPHESY (A MESSAGE OF ENCOURAGEMENT FROM GOD THROUGH A PERSON TO A PERSON OR PERSONS)

Example: 1 Corinthians 14:31. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.

Example: 1 Corinthians 14:3. But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening. encouragement and comfort.

Example: 1 Corinthians 14:23 to 25. So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues. and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in. will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, He will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all.

INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES (UNDERSTANDING AND EXPRESSING THE THOUGHT OR INTENT OF THE MESSAGE IN TONGUES)

Example: 1 Corinthians 14:5. I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues. unless he interprets, so that the church may be educated further.

To finish, Jesus at the last supper told the disciples that he was going away and would send us a helper.

#19 We need to say hello to the Holy Spirit every morning and ask him, what are we going to do today?

Closing Prayer

Holy Spirit,

When we opened the door to our lives, you flowed into us.

Every new day we say hello to you, knowing that you are going to guide us

throughout the day.

Our souls are full to overflowing with You, Holy Spirit.

All the ins and outs of our souls have grown sweet from your presence,

For You bring us heavenly peace.

You chose to change our world in so many wonderful ways,

We thank you Lord, and we will try to love you as you love us.

In the