Our Father in heaven, Your name is honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.] Let’s take some time and focus on prayer. Look up these verses and glean from them. Prayer! It’s a conversation with God. Do you struggle with praying? Is it intimidating to you to pray to God? Is there a right way to…
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Relating To Elders
Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 1 Timothy 5:1 Do you find it hard to lead the elderly? One of the challenges that Timothy faced at Ephesus. Some honored the old and looked down on the younger. Paul gave Timothy and the church instructions about their relationship with each other. Paul told Timothy to make sure that no one despised his young age. Then, in contrast, Paul told Timothy to treat older men (and women) with respect. We have already seen that in God’s household, the leader should treat…
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Conducting Ourselves for Jesus
Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ; so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together, for the faith of the gospel, Philippians 1:27 When we accept Christ as our savior, we become citizens of the Kingdom of God. We need to be good patriotic citizens of the Kingdom of God. As Paul stated that they, the Philippians, were accountable to him, we, too, need to be accountable to one another. This means that when we see each other living in sin, we need…
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Humbling
But emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:7-8 We can learn a lot from Jesus. He is a servant and humble. He humbled himself and came to earth as a man. He was humble by becoming obedient to God. Jesus was so obedient that he died on the cross for us. He laid aside the privilege of his limitless existence as God. When he emptied himself, he took on…
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Surrendered Life
He fills my life with good things. Psalm 103: 5 The surrendered life. A life devoted to God and His ways. It sounds so easy and simple. However, is it? I think surrendering everything to God is hard. Does it need to happen? Yes! However, it is still hard to go through if we are honest with ourselves, God, and others. Of course, there are awesome benefits and blessings from God when we surrender and trust him with our lives. I don’t think we can sit here and talk about the Israelites and how they couldn’t get their act together in this area. …
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It’s Not About You
What good is it for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul? Mark 8:36 How much of this life that you are living is about you? Your purpose? What about our life’s expectations and how it should turn out or how people should behave reveal otherwise. Read Matthew 4:8-9. What did Satan show Jesus? What did Satan tell Jesus that he could do for him? What would Jesus have to do to receive it? Satan offered the world to Jesus if he would bow down and worship him. It is said that Satan’s temptation reveals to his heart that what really…
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Only Jesus Satisfies
But seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33 What is your go-to thing to find satisfaction for a moment in your life? Mine is a diet coke or chocolate with caramel. You know the time in your life where things are just hectic and you are hungry, but you don’t have time to stop and eat. Or how about the times where you need time to stop, but it won’t. What is the one thing that you grab to help you through that time? That is what I am talking about. …
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What Is Tempting You
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. James 1:2-3 Have you ever compared how Jesus and the Israelites each handled their wilderness experience? They both experience God in those moments. However, the Israelites complained and wanted to go back to their former lives, while Jesus was humble to the Holy Spirit’s leading. We all face temptation. Temptation comes in all shapes, forms, and sizes. The one thing we must remember is temptation does not come from God. Do not believe the…
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Jesus The True Grapevine
“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. John 15:1-3 How much do you know about vineyards? I know nothing about vineyards. In ancient times it was common in Palestine to have vineyards. The people would even ornately the temple with grapevines. In the Old Testament, God used the vine as imagery to describe Israel. Read Psalm 80:8-9 As we know, the Israelites became a wild vine because they wandered away from God’s covenant relationship with God. God makes a few comments, referring to His people as the vine and being planted. Look at verses Jeremiah 2:21 and Isaiah 5:1-2. When we are not abiding in God,…
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Ruth: Part One
“In those days, there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Judges 21:25 The days of Ruth was still the time period when the Judges ruled. What do we know about this time period of the Judges? Read Judges 2:8-22. The cycle goes like this: disobedience, defeat, and distress, desperately crying out, deliverance, and peace back to disobedience. This is the sin cycle in the book of Judges. In Ruth 1:1, there is a famine in Bethlehem. According to Ruth 1:2-3, what does this family face in Moab? What do you fin in Ruth 1:4? Marriage to a Moabite was not allowed in…