Want to learn more about Refiner's Fire? Use these Bible Studies for personal devotion, group Bible studies, or teaching a church class. Below are links to the lessons in this 13-part series.
Introduction: All my life I have heard that Jesus is the Good Shepherd and I am one of the dumb sheep. I accept that. I know I need protection. I know that I can make some really dumb decisions. What occurred to me for the first time last week is that the...
Introduction: What should a committed Christian expect in life? The Bible gives us all sorts of advice for living better lives. Deuteronomy 28 promises us that if we bey God He will give us a better life here on earth. On the other hand, if we are careless a...
Introduction: Sometimes life gets discouraging. This past week I argued an important religious liberty case. The judge did not want to hear the argument that I had taken many hours to prepare. Instead, he wanted me to give "yes/no" answers to a series of quest...
Introduction: "A bad day in paradise is like a good day anywhere else." I'm sure I don't have this quote exactly right, but it is something that I've heard from people who believe they live in a pretty nice place. The sense I get of this quote is that they l...
Introduction: There are stories in the Bible, just like there are sad events in life, that I do not understand. Sure, I have explanations and, I suppose, a partial understanding. But, in my human intellect (see 1 Corinthians 13:12), the matter is not clear....
Introduction: Struggling. What a difficult word. Hebrews 12:4 speaks of the "struggle against sin." Is struggling what God wants of us? Is it all He wants? I feel so inadequate because God has to forgive me of the same sins over and over again. I teach other...
Introduction: My daughter and I were recently discussing depression and suicide. I told her that if I ever got to the point of thinking I should kill myself because of my problems, I would simply move to Florida and hire on as some sort of helper on a boat. I...
Introduction: Have you ever said, "Those characters in the Old Testament had a real advantage over me because God spoke directly to them." Do you sometimes feel that your faith could use a real boost by having God speak to you directly? Would you like some tan...
Introduction: When I was a growing up, I sang hymns at school, in church and at home. All that repetition burned the words (or at least something that sounded like the real words) into my brain. I sang about "throwing out the lifeline," "volunteers" "for the...
Introduction: Do you remember when you were dating and you would hang on every word your date would say about you? Sometimes you were pleased and sometimes not. When I was dating my wife (to be) decades ago I recall her singing "My Guy" to me. Here are the l...
Introduction: Most lawyers handle cases in the town or state where they live. Unlike most lawyers, my nearest case would often be hundreds of miles away. Many of my cases were thousands of miles away. This meant traveling. One of the lawyers who worked with me...
Introduction: The ad campaign for the Commonwealth of Virginia is "Virginia is for lovers." That may be true, but I would add "Virginia is for thinkers." Why? Many years ago some states of the United States decided that they would allow citizens to designate...
Introduction: Would you volunteer to suffer? This last lesson in our studies on surviving difficult times looks at one who volunteered to suffer. I assume we all would like to avoid difficult times. As we have learned, difficult times generally come to us in t...
