By Gareth Fraser

Is God a hard worker? King David encouraged us to “Come, behold the works of the Lord” (Psalm 46:8). His son Solomon recommended that we “Consider the work of God” (Ecclesiastes 7:13). To achieve true success, it is right to first consider and examine God’s work ethic.

God is a Maker, a Creator and supreme Worker! “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness …” (Genesis 1:26). God created you in His own likeness. He wants you to be like Him—which means He wants you to work like Him also.

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What does the Bible say about jewelry?

posted by Patrick Hogan

“In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with [braided] hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array” (1 Timothy 2:9)

Challenge: Some use 1 Timothy 2:9 to say we shouldn’t wear jewelry or stylish clothing. What does this verse mean?

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reprinted from Summer 2000 True Education

By J. Tim Thompson

Does God care how hard you work?

There are more than 790 Scripture references to labor and work in the Bible. God has a lot to say about the importance of work in developing godly character. The book of Proverbs is especially filled with references to work and industriousness versus laziness.

Jesus Christ was sent to Earth by the Father to work (John 9:4; 17:4). Christ describes Himself and the Father in John 5:17 by saying, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” God Almighty Himself and His Son are busy, active Beings who are constantly accomplishing and working! And their work is perfect (Deuteronomy 32:4). We must learn to do the same!

Adolescence, and even childhood, is the best time to learn God’s work ethic. Learning this lesson of diligent work early in life will provide great reward.

Let’s look to God’s Word for instruction in a right attitude toward work and the rewards that hard work brings. We suggest writing out the Bible verses as you look them up to help you understand and remember them. So get your Bible, a pen and some paper, and we’ll begin!

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posted by Patrick Hogan

Not as confusing as it looks ...

This is the first article in a new series we’re calling “seven-minute studies.” So what’s the big idea? Well, there are several scriptures that are often taken out of context and misunderstood, or are just a tad confusing. Many accuse the Bible of being full of contradictions. You may even think you’ve spotted one yourself! This series intends to apply the “line upon line, here a little, there a little” principle of Isaiah 28:13 in juicy, bite-sized portions you can sink your teeth into. Each is only a few paragraphs long, containing just a few scriptures to explain the subject under scrutiny. We’ll try to have one for you every week. You’ll be surprised what you can learn in seven minutes! Here’s the benefit to you:

• Get to know your Bible
• Understand “difficult” scriptures
• Build good Bible study habits
• Easy time commitment

Without further ado, let’s get into our first seven-minute study!

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by Joel Hilliker

We’ve talked about how the Bible can open your eyes to a whole new level of life. We know that God’s Word can totally change our relationships, our social lives, and everything else we do physically, mentally and, obviously, spiritually. We know that we need above all to have the right attitude in studying the Bible. We know that we need to repent, and believe what God says without reading our own meaning into it. We know that we should combine Bible study with prayer, meditation and fasting.

What else can help us really get to know our Bibles? Bible helps!

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by Joel Hilliker

Don’t forget your other three tools!

Okay, so we talked about having the right attitude in studying God’s Word in Part One. We’ve seen how that will go so far to open up the knowledge God is yearning to pour out to you, and how it will help you be more happy, more inspired and more on-track with God. We’ll cover how to use all those Bible references and helps that we hear our parents and ministers talking about so much in Part Three. But before that, we need to look at three terrific tools that combine with Bible study to give us the huge Bible study breakthrough we need!

These four main tools we use in our spiritual lives are: Bible study, prayer, meditation and fasting. To understand God’s Word, we must have a proper attitude, and also use these three other tools He has given us to draw closer to Him!

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by Joel Hilliker

Have you actually gotten to know your Bible? I mean really gotten to know it? Or is it still sort of mysterious to you? Do you find it hard to understand? Maybe you just can’t motivate yourself to crack it open? But you know you should—and you want to. Could it be, in part, simply because you don’t know how?

You could be right on the verge. Standing on the edge of everything. About to plunge into the awesome depth that is God’s Word in print: the Holy Bible. And once you fall in love with God and studying what He says, it will amaze you how much information is packed into the Bible—immediately relevant to your life, each and every day! After all, it is the very mind of our Creator—and there is no end to the depth you can search out in it!

The basis for Philadelphia Youth Camp, Herbert W. Armstrong College, Sabbath services, holy days, our daily lives, almost everything we do, is the Bible. But direct instruction on how to actually study it is rare.

Here are some important basic principles of how to study your Bible.

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By Joel Hilliker

Does it matter who you hang out with?

Maybe your school is full of cliques. Everybody seems to have their group that they hang out with, oftentimes shutting others out.

Have you ever stopped to think about how people choose their friends? Yes, people with the same interests or tastes in clothes or music gravitate toward each other—but, just as often, the group you’re in tends to shape your interests or tastes. In fact, the people you spend time with can change your life, for better or worse.

Think about who you spend time with—at school, after school, on the weekends. Not your family, but your friends. What kind of people are they? What draws you to them? What do you do together? How do you usually act around them? What do other people think of them? Do your parents like them?

You may not realize this, but who you choose as your friends says a lot about you! Choosing the right friends is an important responsibility. That doesn’t mean becoming part of a clique and shutting others out. It means being smart about who you spend the most time with and allow yourself to be influenced by.

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By Ryan Malone

So, we’ve recommended the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible to you. But perhaps that is one of the hardest to understand—purely because of the ancient wording that it uses. Here is a simple guide that should help you in making sense of some of those old words.

You:

In modern English, we use “you” when speaking to one person (singular; like the word “I”) and when talking to many people (plural; like the word “we”)—although some use the expression “ya’ll” and “you guys” for that. Also, modern English doesn’t differentiate between “you” when it is the subject of the sentence (Ex.:”You are smart”) and when it is the direct object of the sentence (”I know you“).

The English used in the KJV has different words for each type of “you.”

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Moses and the Israelites crossed the Red Sea channel—on foot—during the Days of Unleavened Bread. What does that awesome event mean for you?

By Philip Nice

Egyptians. The word burned through their ranks like wildfire.

More than 2.5 million people massed in 13 tribes camped under the shadow of the rocky and foreboding Pihahiroth Mountains. This teeming sea of people had just experienced a liberation so phenomenal that many still couldn’t believe it was happening. In living memory, they had known nothing but oppression under a harsh, discriminating regime that squashed freedom, especially freedom of religion, and crushed them under grinding slavery.

But in just a few months the national economy, the vaunted religion and the evil despot of the world’s most powerful state were broken. The agriculturally and religiously vital Nile River became blood; frogs, lice, locusts and other insects, all symbolizing pagan gods, infested fields and residences; and other unnatural disasters wracked the nation until finally the honored first-born Egyptian children, as well as beasts, suddenly died all in one night.

Then, the humiliated Egyptian dictatorship finally caved in. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people packed up tools, clothes, livestock, cookware filled with unleavened bread, and valuables presented to them by Egyptians and flowed out through the streets and past houses, businesses, plantations, temples, palaces, sky-scraper pyramids and broad fields decimated by the God of Israel.

And one man had prophesied it all.

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