Notes Sunday, June 1st

2 Timothy 3:16-17 

• The more you know the Bible, the more you know God. The better you know God. Trying to live without the Bible is like trying to paint with a screwdriver. 

Romans 10:17 

• Since the Bible is the word of Christ, who is God, then it is through the Bible that we know God. If we know God we can listen to Him, and know what He has promised us in life. 
• If you know the promises of God, you can stand on them. 
• If you don't know God you will make assumptions and have no promises to stand on.

Romans 7:24-29

• When God gives us primises we can stand on them like the wise mans house on the rock.

1 Peter 1:22-24

• Everything changes, but God's will will never change. It abides forever.

Psalms 18:2

Hebrews 6:19-20

• Gods word is our stronghold, our anchor. 
• God is likened to a rock at least 59 times in the Bible. 

If your life is dependant on never having trouble, you will be miserable.

The world needs people who can weather through the storm. 

People who god without God fall apart in every storm.

Your life has to be founded on the Word, not listening to your pastor. Yes, it is good to listen and learn from others, but your faith has to be your own, not someone elses.

Your faith has to be in Christ. The word Christian means Little Christ so as we go through our lives we are to be Christ to those around us. The way we learn who Christ was, is by reading the Bible. 

Reading the Bible is also one way that God talks to us. Just give Him a chance.

 

Bible Study - Acts 18

Read Acts 18

Again we see the importance in knowledge of scripture, and having a relationship with God. It is possible to love God, and His people without these connections, but when push comes to shove, and people are asking you for knowledge, and you don't have it...? It will become more difficult for you to tell people that you believe the Bible, because you will not know what is written in it. Priscilla and Aquilla knew this, and they educated Apollos in the works of Jesus. We need to strive towards the same knowledge.

Bible Study - Acts 15

Read Acts 15

God's grace is so great that He has given us the opportunity to be His children(His followers). We see this overwhelming love in this chapter.
We also see the devil. It is important to know that when people plot against us(if we are doing the righteous work of God), it is not them, it is the devil inside of them. Here again we also see how much knowledge of scripture helps us to fight the devil in others.

Bible Study - Acts 13

God will send you out, as He did with Paul and Barnabas. Be bold in what God has taught you and in your faith, for He will always hold true.

We see thru-out this chapter the significance of scriptural knowledge. Barnabas was an excellent student of scripture before he went out to serve The LORD. Therefore He is able to preach with the knowledge of past profits and all they said.

Without the knowledge of scripture we are a lost cause in this world. We would only be able to teach from a standpoint of what God has done in our lives. Which is an important part of teaching, but it is important to know the word of God. Even though it goes much deeper than that.

Isaiah 29:13-14:

The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
 and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me. 
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”

Understand Who You Are - Advice for Everyone (but mostly kids)

Dear Child, understand who you are in Christ. Nurture yourself while you are young. Learn what God's word says, so you may be evangelistically bold in the Spirit. But learn more than just His word, learn to worship Him in all you do. Learn to seek His presence, and walk in it. Learn to hear His voice, that you may know Him when He calls. For without His guidance your own feet will surely lead you astray.

Bible Study - Acts 12

God delivered Peter from his shackles, how much more can He free you of your troubles? (And yes, I am talking to you, the one who just told yourself that that last rhetorical question has nothing to do with you... It has everything to do with you!)
We need to realize that everything, every talent and ability, every penny, every piece of knowledge that we hold claim to, has come from God. Without God, we would still be in the ground, and would be accomplishing nothing. We would be nothing but dirt. Therefore, everything you do,  do it in worship of Him who created you, and know that nothing can hold Him back.

Bible Study - Acts 7

Here we see the benefit of biblical knowledge. I know it looks as though it did not work, but he had a valid point, and the people despised him for it, they knew it was true, but didn’t want to believe it. The stoning of Stephen is referred to by Saul after he becomes Paul, and Stephens last words show us just how real God is. Because, without God, no one would say such things at their death. Jesus Said it, Stephen said it, will you? Will you find yourself so in love with God, that you can forgive those who took your life from you?

Don't Lose the Child Inside - Advice for Everyone (but mostly kids)

Dear child, get older, learn, mature, grow up. But don’t lose the child inside. Being mature is more knowing when to be serious, and when to joke around, then just being serious. When you are young, act young all the time. When you get older, know when and how to act young, and do it. Life is not fun unless you are able to embrace the fun times, and enjoy them for what they are!

"Random" Post - Relationships

Ultimately, I believe that God's planning is perfect, and that He already has the perfect person for us, also that He will show us who they are at the right time. I believe that everything we do, every relationship that we have, makes us stronger. I believe that it is good to pursue people we love, and to make mistakes, and to learn from them. I also believe that it is good to wait. Yes, everyone at one time or another during grade school has crushes, and relationships that we find painful, and yes, I am included in everyone. My experiences with these kinds of relationships has been rough, and when my sixth grade crush went on and found the love of his life, it was hard, but in the end, I know that  he would not have been right for me, and I just want him to be happy. My plan now is to find my best friend, God will do the rest.

When pursuing a dating relationship with someone, ask yourself a few questions:

Can I hold a casual conversation with this person? If you can't hold a conversation together with someone, how do you expect to hold a relationship together with them?

Is this person my best friend?When you enter into a dating relationship, you are spending time with someone who is a candidate to be your spouse, do you really think you can be one with someone who is not your best friend. If you are a female and in a relationship with a male, but talk about your relationship problems with a different male, you should reconsider who you go on your dates with.

How do I act when I am around this person? Am I comfortable, or does being with that person make me feel awkward? If you do not feel comfortable or safe around your date, that's not a good thing, you should feel free to be yourself around your significant other.

Do I trust this person enough to give them my life? Trust, if you can not trust someone, don't date them.

What are their interests vs. mine? What do I see in my future? Does this person have a similar vision?If your vision for the future is not anything similar to that of your date's, you may not want to pursue that person as a spouse.

Am I ready to date?

Personally, I don't think that people should date until they are mentally, and emotionally ready to do so. Also, you need to evaluate your motives. What do I mean? If you are dating because everyone else does, or because you feel bad for someone, you need to stop. The only thing you are going to accomplish with either of those motives, is breaking someone's heart. If you feel left out, know that God has someone waiting for you, and make that knowledge your motivation to save yourself for them.  If you are only dating someone to make them feel accepted, you are only going to make them feel more rejected. Hang out with them, have coffee with them, be their friend, but do not form a dating relationship with someone if you are only trying to be kind to them. Maybe you will end up having an honest dating relationship with them one day but, to start out, just be kind.
It is also important to know who you are before you start dating. If you don't know who you are, how are you going to know who is right for you?

Some of these are questions you need to ask yourself before you agree to go on a date with someone, others, are ones that you should ask while on your first date.

Bible Study - Esther 8

The King’s Edict in Behalf of the Jews

1 That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. 2 The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman’s estate.

3 Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews. 4 Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him.

5 “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces. 6 For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”

7 King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled him on the pole he set up.8 Now write another decree in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring—for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.”

9 At once the royal secretaries were summoned—on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language. 10 Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.

11 The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children, and to plunder the property of their enemies. 12 The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. 13 A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

14 The couriers, riding the royal horses, went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.

The Triumph of the Jews

15 When Mordecai left the king’s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration. 16 For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor. 17 In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.

I don’t always read the notes of insight that are printed into my bible, but I did today, and  I want to share it with you, because it brings up something that I had not noticed.

What About God?

Why is God’s name not mentioned in Esther - especially in obvious places like this one? … Some suggest that Esther and Mordecai were not outstanding examples of faith. The two were even willing to hide Esther’s Jewish background. Esther showed no reluctance to be married to a pegan king and become a part of his harem. Most critically, she and Mordecai (along with all the other Jews in Esther) had chosen not to return to Jerusalem with the first wave of Jews nearly half a century earlier. (The story of that is told in Ezra 1-6.) Those who stayed in Persia presumably cared more about their finances than about God’s plans for the Jews to return to Jerusalem from exile. Perhaps because of this, Esther is told as a secular story, to illustrate God’s care over even “secularized” Jews.

http://zondervanbibles.com/

Video - Jesus>Religion

This guy makes some pretty powerful videos, please take some time to check this out.

Scripture - Love

1 Corinthians 13 (NIV)

1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

No matter how hard you try to gain anything, be it a friendship, a family, a hope, etc., no matter how hard you try, you will not gain it without Love, for there is nothing greater.  If you are without Love, you are without God, in the same way, if you are without God, you are without Love.

1 John 4:8

“Whoever does not know Love does not know God, because God is Love.”

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Since we just learned that God is Love we can replace God with Love in any verse, this one is a great example:

“God is patient, God is kind.  He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud.  He does not dishonor, He is not self seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs.  God does not delight in evil but rejoices with truth.  He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

If you do not know Love you do not know God.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

When we find God(Love), we find perfection, and everything else goes away.  Everything we know disappears , and the truth is revealed to us.  God loves us so much that He wants us to reach this level of understanding, where we fully know all his glory.  Love never fails, but anything that is not love, or of love will, one day, fail.  Love never fails, never ends, never gives up, never harms, Love, God’s Love is perfect.  God’s Love is like infinity, 1 and 1 million are equally distant from infinity.  The amount of God’s Love that you feel now is nothing compared to the amount that He has in store for you.  Currently, all we have is a taste of God’s Love, but when we have received even half the amount that he has for us, it will be like a feast that one cannot fathom keeping to himself.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Anyone can have faith - they know that something will happen, that someone will walk through that door, that their superhero won’t die - everyone has hope - that something will happen, that they will find someone someday who cares -.  Love is also something that everyone has, it’s something that everyone is always searching for, but how many things do you have that you are not aware of?  When we do find Love we rejoice, and Love rejoices, because it has been longing to be found.  In the same way everyone is searching for God, and He simply waits to be seen, and to be accepted.  When we find God, we rejoice and He rejoices with us.

The Importance of Scripture

Something that I have been learning a lot about lately, is the importance of scripture. When I was younger I thought that it would be enough to just go to church on Sunday and youth group on Wednesday. Then I started wanting to share about my beliefs with unbelievers. I realized that I was not comfortable with my knowledge in the scripture, and was scared that if people would try to ask me more about God, and the Bible, I would not know what to say.

Since then I have been working to further my knowledge in the scriptures, I am still working at this, however, I would be more comfortable sharing my faith now than I would have been then.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

 

Another plus to reading the Bible on a regular basis is that you are spending time with God, reading his word, and just that can powerfully influence the rest of your day tremendously! As well as teaching you God’s promises for your life.