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 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?

Worship - How He Loves

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/

True Story - Healing Happens

I recently got to attend a service lead by a member of Bethel, and even just the presence of God that was expected, really goes to show that God truly is the same everywhere. Even though they were miles from California, from their home-base, they still expected God to be the same, the same mentality that my friend from Ecuador was saying “God is the same everywhere” and he was really trying to get us to understand that. Now I can say that I do. (Although, I still think I'll flip when I go to Ecuador and God uses me)

It’s just crazy awesome what faith can do, at this service I witnessed two people’s legs grow out, my head, arm and knees were healed, and a friend of mine had her kneecaps re-aligned. These things, among many, are only possible through the grace of Jesus Christ our LORD and Savior.