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Wednesday, April 29, 2015

The Set Time of God Genesis 18 10-14; 21: 1, 2


click to Read the passage: Genesis 18  (a new browser window will open)

click to Read the passage: Genesis 21  (a new browser window will open)


1. God makes promises to His servants that are unbelievable and unbelievably good.
18: 10 And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?

2. God has no regard for difficulty.
18: 14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

3. God needs no help to accomplish His will.

4. Believing God is to be unencumbered by human intrusion of unbelief or doubt.

5. Believing God does involve waiting upon God to do what only God can do.

6. God has a set time for the accomplishment of His will.
21: 1 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

7. God’s will is a keeper that gives continual benefit and blessing.

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Making God's Word a Part of You Deuteronomy 11: 18-21


click to Read the passage: Deuteronomy 11  (a new browser window will open)



v.18            1. Make God's word your heart's filling.
            (Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart)

v.18            2. Make God's word the substance of your life action.
            (and in your soul)

v.18            3. Make God's word your common testimony.
             (and bind them for a sign upon your hand,)

v.18            4. Make God's word your ready reference.
             (a sign upon your hand,)

v.18            5. Make God's word your continual testimony.
            (that they may be as frontlets between your eyes)

v.18            6. Make God's word your sight.
            (that they may be as frontlets between your eyes)
            walk by faith, not by sight

v.19            7. Make God's word your living letter.
            (when thou sittest in thine house, wa1kest by the way, when thou liest down,
            and when thou risest up.)

v.20            8. Make God's word your family guide.
            (and thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thine house, and upon thy gates,)

v.20            9. Make God's word your protection.
            (and thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thine house,)

v.20            10. Make God's word your sustaining life.
             (That your days may be multiplied, ••• ) 

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

God's Concern for Life Genesis 7: 1-18


click to Read the passage: Genesis 7  (a new browser window will open)






v.1 1. God’s desire is not to destroy life, but to save it.
(And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark;)

v.1 2. God’s standard is designed to protect life.
(for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.)

v.l 3. God's desire is to extend life's fruitfulness. 
(all thy house) (in this generation.) 
(v.19- they shall be male and female.) 

6:19-21 7:2,3 
4. God has established the animal kingdom life for man's benefit.
  (to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth) 
keeping balance in life 

7: 7-9
5. God is the protector of life. 
(and Noah went in, ... ) (of clean beasts,… ) 

7: 17,18 
6. God is the progenitor (originator) of life. 
(Be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.) ••. 

9:1 7. God gives purpose to life. 
(and God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be 
fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth.) 





Saturday, April 18, 2015

God's Control Jonah 1: 3-12, Ch. 2, Ch. 3


click to Read the passage: Jonah 1  (a new browser window will open)



v.3            1.            God’s servant cannot escape from God’s presence.
                               (To go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.)

v.4            2.            Security only comes from the hand of the Lord.
                               (… that the ship was in danger of being broken.)
                               Ps. 112: 7

v.5            3.            There is no help to protect from God.
                               (Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his god, …)

v.6            4.             Circumstances wrought by God press in on man to protect God’s 
                                 established purposes.
                                (What meanest thou, O sleeper? …)

v.9             5.            God will require a report of identity from His people.
                                (I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven,)

v.10            6.           The source of man’s fear is the source in control.
                                 (Then were the men exceedingly afraid, …)

v.12            7.            There is great penalty for withdrawal from God’s presence.
                                 (cast me forth into the sea;)

v.17            8.            No matter the pathway God’s servant chooses, God has prepared a 
                                 pathway back to Him-to God.
                                 (Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.)

ch. 2            9.            God’s servant learns how important God’s will is to God.
                                  The one person God’s will is most important to is God.

ch. 3            10.            God’s servant surrenders to God’s hand of control.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

The Fruit of Seeking the Lord Psalms 34: 10, 22


click to Read the passage: Psalms 34  (a new browser window will open)



v.4 1. God hears our petition.
(I sought the Lord, and He heard me.)

v.4 2. God does away with fears.
(and delivered me from all my fears.)

v.5 3. God gives genuine rest and relief.
(They looked unto Him, and were lightened: and)

v.5 4. God gives courage.
(and their faces were not ashamed.)

v.8 5. God provides a sweet inviting taste of His goodness.
(Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed)

v.10 6. God provides every need.
(but they who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.)

v.22 7. God will never abandon.
(none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate.)








Saturday, April 11, 2015

Troublings Within John 11: 21-45


click to Read the passage: John 11  (a new browser window will open)



                        As observed in the lives of Martha and Mary.

                        Focusing on the minor, the insignificant, thus, missing the main point.
                        Sincere in their commitment, but without Godly understanding.
                        Not spiritually resting.
                        Not thinking things through; short sighted.
                        Drawing wrong conclusions.
                        More focused on death, than life.
                        Failing to please the Master.
                       
v.21            1.    Fixing one’s own limit on the power of God and following it,
                          (Then said Martha unto Jesus, If thou hadst been here, my brother had
                          not died.)

v.23,            2.   Hearing Jesus, but not hearing what Jesus is saying.
   24                   (Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.)
                          (Martha saith unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection
                           at the last day.)

v.25            3.    Failing to live in the present tense with Jesus.
                           (Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life:)

v.25            4.    Seeing the cross as terminal, the end.
                           (he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:)

v.25            5.    It is not sin alone that causes the troublings, rather it is not believing in the   
                            power of the cross.

v.26            6.    Failing to see the equality of believing.
                          (And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou
                          this?)
                          It is through believing in Jesus and His teachings that we are reconciled to 
                          truth and locked into position to inherit its message and blessings.

v.27            7.   Contentment with present understanding.
                         (She saith unto Him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou are the Christ, the Son of God,   
                         which  should come into the world.)

v.28            8.    Following/going on one’s own way.
                          (And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister   
                          secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.)

v.32            9.    Upholding the common understanding.
                          (Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at  
                          His feet, saying unto Him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not  
                          died.) same as in v. 21
                          What is commonly agreed upon and consented to: it didn’t come from Jesus.

v.33            10.  Failing to please the teacher.
                          (When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which
                          came with her, He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.)

v.38,           11.  Seeing not what frees the believer, but what binds the believer.
    39                  (Jesus therefore again groaning in Himself cometh to the grave. It was a 
                          cave, and a stone lay upon it.)  
                         (Jesus said, Take ye away the stone, Martha, the sister
                          of him that was dead, saith unto Him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath  
                          been dead four days.)

v.40            12.  Being an unbelieving believer or an unbelievable believer.
                         (Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou)

v.40            13.  Allowing the light of truth to be blocked out.
                         (if thou wouldest believe,)

v.40            14.  Unprepared for the visitation of God’s glory.
                         (…if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?)

v.41            15.  Unfamiliarity with the power of prayer and its results.
                         (Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And 
                         Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.) 
                         (And I knew that thou hearest me always …)

v.42            16.  Failure to believe Jesus is God’s Son and to appreciate the oneness there 
                         present.
                         (And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people
                         which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.)

v.43            17.  Failure to see God’s commitment to life.
                         (And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come
                         forth.)

v.44            18.  Failure to see God’s power in life.
                         (And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and)

v.44            19.  Failure to comprehend and embrace the liberty of the cross. 
                          (and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him,
                          and let him go.)
                          see v. 25- the liberty of the cross.

v.45            20.  The only real ministry and message to share is the liberty of the cross.
                          (Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which
                          Jesus did, believed on Him.)

                  21.  The child of God’s greatest threat is not death, (for Jesus reigns over death),
                          nor, is it  defeats, nor is it discouragements;  but rather it is life itself and life’s
                          victories, clearly seen, received, participating in, and joyfully
                          commemorating.
                         The threat is not death, but life.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

He is Risen Matthew 28: 5-7


click to Read the passage: Matthew 28  (a new browser window will open)



vs. 5 1) Those who seek Jesus are rewarded for their search. 

vs. 5 2) Those who seek Jesus find the crucifixion was but an unfinished story. 

vs. 6 3) Those who seek Jesus must look beyond the confining circumstances of man. 
(he is not here) 

vs. 6 4) Those who seek Jesus must look for Him among the living. 
(he is risen) 

vs. 6 5) Those who seek Jesus know He is a keeper of His word. 
as He said)

vs. 7 6) Those who seek Jesus find confirmation of their faith. 
(come, see the place where the Lord lay) 

7) Those who seek Jesus seek His unfinished work for their own lives. 
(and go quickly, and tell his disciples ••• ) 
faith to be perfected ; spiritual works to be carried out; promises to be believed; visions to hope for. 

Saturday, April 4, 2015

The Focus of Jesus John 11: 8-14


click to Read the passage: John 11  (a new browser window will open)



v.8            1.            His focus is on His purpose, not man's.
                                (...the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?)

v.8            2.            His focus is on His ministry, not His preservation.

v.8            3.            His focus is on others' need, not His own need.

v.8            4.            His focus is on faithfulness, not fear.
                                (...the Jews of late sought to stone thee; ...)

v.9,           5.             His focus is upon walking in the light of truth, not in stumbling.
  10                           (...If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the 
                                 light of this world.)

v.14           6.            His focus is on life's dominion, not death's hold.
                                 (Lazarus is dead.)

 ...v.25       7.            His focus is on the victory of the Father at the cross, revealed forever.
                                 (...I am the resurrection, and the life: ...)