Study Desk

The prophets did not think these things up on their own, but they were guided by the Spirit of God.

Sometimes false prophets spoke to the people of Israel. False teachers will also sneak in and speak harmful lies to you. But these teachers don't really belong to the Master who paid a great price for them, and they will quickly destroy themselves.

They will be greedy and cheat you with smooth talk. But long ago God decided to punish them, and God doesn't sleep.

These people are no better than senseless animals that live by their feelings and are born to be caught and killed. They speak evil of things they don't know anything about. But their own corrupt deeds will destroy them.

All they think about is having sex with someone else's husband or wife. There is no end to their wicked deeds. They trick people who are easily fooled, and their minds are filled with greedy thoughts. But they are headed for trouble!

But a donkey corrected him for this evil deed. It spoke to him with a human voice and made him stop his foolishness.

They promise freedom to everyone. But they are merely slaves of filthy living, because people are slaves of whatever controls them.

When they learned about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they escaped from the filthy things of this world. But they are again caught up and controlled by these filthy things, and now they are in worse shape than they were at first.

But first you must realize that in the last days some people won't think about anything except their own selfish desires. They will make fun of you

But God has commanded the present heavens and earth to remain until the day of judgment. Then they will be set on fire, and ungodly people will be destroyed.

But God has promised us a new heaven and a new earth, where justice will rule. We are really looking forward to that!

Paul talks about these same things in all his letters, but part of what he says is hard to understand. Some ignorant and unsteady people even destroy themselves by twisting what he said. They do the same thing with other Scriptures too.

But if we live in the light, as God does, we share in life with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus washes all our sins away.

But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.

My children, I am writing this so that you won't sin. But if you do sin, Jesus Christ always does the right thing, and he will speak to the Father for us.

But if we claim to know him and don't obey him, we are lying and the truth isn't in our hearts.

But it really is a new commandment, and you know its true meaning, just as Christ does. You can see the darkness fading away and the true light already shining.

But if we love others, we are in the light, and we don't cause problems for them.

The world and the desires it causes are disappearing. But if we obey God, we will live forever.

These people came from our own group, yet they were not part of us. If they had been part of us, they would have stayed with us. But they left, which proves that they did not belong to our group.