This Crossing Bridges website was created as a form of online Christian outreach to provide Bible Studies
and an email contact service (reach-out) for people of all ages, in all their diversity and complexity,
in support of their personal Christian growth and spiritual well-being.

From time to time, Bible studies will be provided on this site.
These studies generally follow the teaching series presented within the Sunday evening services (6PM) at St Paul's Anglican Church

- directly in front of the Birkinhead Bridge -
1 Church Place, Port Adelaide in Adelaide South Australia.

You can always join us in person on Sundays.
If you would like to come along, why not email us beforehand so that we can look forward to welcoming you especially.
Don't hesitate to email us on "wrphilp@gmail.com.au"

 

(Locum Tenens) Parish Priest

Father Peter Simmons  0419 803 630
The Reverend
B.Th.

(Honorary) Parish Deacon

Brother Wayne Philp 0419 800 542
The Reverend Doctor
Ph.D., M.Mental Health, B.Th., B.Sc.

Click below to visit
www.stpaulsportadelaide.com

CLICK HERE

You may need to view this study on a computer screen rather than on a mobilephone
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This week's Bible Study:
Seven OLD and NEW deadly sins…
Bible Study 4 – Obscene Riches

^{Mark 7:20-23} Jesus said, What comes out of a person is what defiles them.  For from within, out of the heart, comes ^reordered  kakos ho dialogismos (evil purposes) and ponēria (evil deeds):
                        ACEDIA: dolos (deceit), aphrosynē (inconsiderate folly)
                        ENVY: ophthalmos (jealous selfishness)
                        VAINGLORY: hyperēphania (arrogance), blasphēmia (blasphemy)
                              WRATH: phonos (murder),
                        LUST: porneia (sexual immorality), moicheia (adultery), aselgeia (sensuality)
                             GLUTTONY: pleonexia (excessive self-indulgence),
                       GREED: klopē (theft),
All these evil things come from within, and they are what defile a person.

Q1.  What were the main social evils within the Jewish/Roman world and culture of Jesus’ time?  Are they any different today?

^{Daniel 3:1-7} King Nebuchadnezzar [of Babylon] made an image of gold, whose height was 27m and its breadth 2.7m. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counsellors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up… They stood before the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.”

^{Daniel 7:2-8} Daniel declared, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagles' wings.  Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

^{Daniel 7:17} These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth.
^{Daniel 2:32-43} The head of this image is of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.  Now we will tell the king its interpretation… ^You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory…—you are the head of gold [Babylon] Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you [Medo-Persia], and yet a third kingdom of bronze [Greece], which shall rule over all the earth. And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron [Rome], because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.

Q2.  The Idol of Assyria/Babylon – Persia – Greece - Rome was the system of wealth and commerce – money.  In Revelation this is called the Great Prostitute. Coins: Gold – Silver – Bronze – Iron; that endure even today.  Discuss.

^{Daniel 2:44-45} In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand for ever, just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. 

Q3.  Jesus was the stone that smashed the Idol of Assyria/Babylon – Persia – Greece – Rome and caused it to tumble and smash. Do you think that the financial system of Rome is still in effect? Did Jesus smash the rule and control of money and the global system of finance?

^{Matthew 6:24} No one can serve two masters, for either they will hate the one and love the other, or they will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

^{Mark 12: 13-17, Matthew 22:15–22; Luke 20:19–26} Some of the Pharisees and Herodians tried to catch Jesus in his words. They said, “Teacher, we know that You are honest and seek favor from no one. Indeed, you are impartial and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or not?” But Jesus saw through their scheme and said, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to inspect.” So, they brought it, and He asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they answered. Then Jesus told them, “Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

Q4.  What was Jesus telling us?  Should we refuse to use the tender of the Great Prostitute – the ungodly system of money?  What does it mean to make money your master and to love it?  Is huge wealth obscene before God, or it is the way we (as God’s people) use it and love it?

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