Today and Everyday are Great Days to be Reminding Ourselves Exactly How We All Experience God’s Grace Every Day! Romans 7:14-20

Romans 7:14-20 Easy-to-Read Version

The War Inside Us

¹⁴We know that the law is spiritual, but I am not. I am so human. Sin rules me as if I were its slave. ¹⁵I don’t understand why I act the way I do. I don’t do the good I want to do, and I do the evil I hate. ¹⁶And if I don’t want to do what I do, that means I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷But I am not really the one doing the evil. It is sin living in me that does it. ¹⁸Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me—I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is not spiritual. I want to do what is good, but I don’t do it. ¹⁹I don’t do the good that I want to do. I do the evil that I don’t want to do. ²⁰So if I do what I don’t want to do, then I am not really the one doing it. It is the sin living in me that does it.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

I Need Thee Every Hour

The United Methodist Hymnal Number 397
Text: Annie S. Hawks, 1835-1918
Music: Robert Lowry, 1826-1899
Tune: NEED, Meter: 64.64 with Refrain

1. I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
no tender voice like thine can peace afford.
Refrain:
I need thee, O I need thee;
every hour I need thee;
O bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee.

2. I need thee every hour; stay thou nearby;
temptations lose their power when thou art nigh.
(Refrain)

3. I need thee every hour, in joy or pain;
come quickly and abide, or life is vain.
(Refrain)

4. I need thee every hour; teach me thy will;
and thy rich promises in me fulfill.
(Refrain)

5. I need thee every hour, most Holy One;
O make me thine indeed, thou blessed Son.
(Refrain)

I absolutely require God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!

You absolutely require God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!

We, the Body of Christ, His Church on earth, absolutely requires God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!

We all absolutely require Grace upon grace from God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!

It’s what I am learning I literally need every single moment of every single day, especially the older I get, the more discipleship responsibilities fill up my plate.

More and more I feel inadequate at living the way I hope to live. I feel like Paul when he said he can’t seem to get himself to do the things he wants to be doing (Romans 7:14-20).

It’s funny, because the Bible tells us over and over that we will always need God!

When it comes right down to it, from the very beginning, we were quite literally nothing, we were nothing but the 100% lifeless dust of the earth until God said;

Genesis 1:26-29 Complete Jewish Bible

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, in the likeness of ourselves; and let them rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the animals, and over all the earth, and over every crawling creature that crawls on the earth.”

²⁷So God created humankind in his own image;
in the image of God he created him:
male and female he created them.

²⁸God blessed them: God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the air and every living creature that crawls on the earth.” ²⁹Then God said, “Here! Throughout the whole earth I am giving you as food every seed-bearing plant and every tree with seed-bearing fruit.

We were nothing without His power!

We are nothing without His power, His love, His grace, His plan for our lives, and His everlasting gift of salvation through His own Son Jesus’ lifeblood.

But it feels like I am constantly playing whack-a-mole with my pride.

This pride tells me over and over that I can do all things by my own strength. A pride that compares to others and tells me I should be doing better than them.

A pride that looks deep, directly and decisively, longingly into my own strength rather than embraces my deep need for a Savior. I don’t really understand grace.

2 Corinthians 12:9 says, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Grace gives us license to be real with the world around us. We can boast of our weakness because where I fall short God shows up. My tears are his chance to show his great unyielding love for me by covering my wrongs with his love.

The Christian life absolutely depends on grace upon grace every single day. It is by God’s loving Holy Spirit that we are all given the power to live in a way that is a pleasing aroma to God, that our failures don’t have the final say in our lives.

Here are at least 4 ways the Bible teaches that we experience God’s grace daily:

1. God’s Grace Is Sufficient to Cover Sin

His grace is always enough.

If that is true, why am I spending most of my days counting up my failures rather than thanking him for his forgiveness?

Because I’m holding onto my failures far too aggressively, irrationally believing they are too big, too impossible, for God to take grasp, hold on to, wash clean.

Romans 6:14 reports, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

My sin is covered by grace. Yet, I’m learning that in order for me to feel, hear, and live in that kind of freedom, I have to 100% participate in a holy exchange.

I have to lay down my right to be wrong and pick up something that no part of me feels I deserve – God’s amazing forgiveness.

What are you holding on too tightly to that God’s desires to cover with grace?

Is it anger? lust? self defeating ideas? Addiction? Depression? Pride? Infidelity?

This sin has no power over you once you release it to Jesus. Is it time to let it go?

https://my.hymnary.org/song/dynamic/256/marvelous-grace-of-our-loving-lord?hymnary=1&audiorecording=&tempo=140&style=veroviostatic-&theme=black&shadow=

2. Grace Gives Us Access to the King of Kings

Grace gives us bold access to God.

Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

God is holy, mighty, perfect, and all powerful.

Moses was not able to see God’s face because it would have killed him. God is too majestic and powerful for us to behold in our human form (Exodus 33:20).

Exodus 33:17-23 Complete Jewish Bible

(iv) ¹⁷Adonai said to Moshe, “I will also do what you have asked me to do, because you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” ¹⁸But Moshe said, “I beg you to show me your glory!” ¹⁹He replied, “I will cause all my goodness to pass before you, and in your presence I will pronounce the name of Adonai. Moreover, I show favor to whomever I will, and I display mercy to whomever I will. ²⁰But my face,” he continued, “you cannot see, because a human being cannot look at me and remain alive. ²¹Here,” he said, “is a place near me; stand on the rock. ²²When my glory passes by, I will put you inside a crevice in the rock and cover you with my hand, until I have passed by. ²³Then I will remove my hand, and you will see my back, but my face is not to be seen.”

What grace we have been given through Christ that we can now boldly draw near to God’s throne to receive what we need. We could never live holy enough to be worthy of God’s presence on our own. Through Christ who died on our behalf, we are able to better behave as a son or daughter of the one true God.

We can tug on our Father’s hand, or on His cloak or on His sandal strings asking him to help guide us, resolve our problem, asking him to provide what we need.

https://my.hymnary.org/song/dynamic/222/a_wonderful_savior_is_jesus_my_lord_a_wo?toolkit=veroviostatic&hymnary=1

3. Salvation Is a Gracious Gift to Us

Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

Ephesians 2:8-10 Complete Jewish Bible

⁸For you have been delivered by grace through trusting, and even this is not your accomplishment but God’s gift. ⁹You were not delivered by your own actions; therefore no one should boast. ¹⁰For we are of God’s making, created in union with the Messiah Yeshua for a life of good actions already prepared by God for us to do.

Salvation is something we could never earn.

From the moment that humanity allowed sin to enter our world we became deserving of death.

Yet, due to God’s great love for us the Father made a plan for our salvation.

How ceaselessly thankful we should each be that God did not allow us to remain hopeless, doomed to eternal separation from his love!

We can live abundantly believing, knowing, the best is yet to come because of God’s extravagant, gracious, and powerful love.

Every person can share eternity in Heaven; all they have to do is believe in their heart and profess with their lips that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior.

There is no sin too great for God’s grace to overcome.

The only way we can miss out on the free gift of salvation is if we flat out reject him by our own free will. Otherwise, God’s gracious invitation to join his family, live with him in Heaven forever is being extended to everyone who confesses.

4. By Grace God Shows Us How to Live Upright Lives

Titus 2:11-14 states, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”

God’s grace trains us to live self-controlled and upright lives.

Without God’s Spirit living in us, we cannot discern what is good for us.

We need him to show us his ways and to teach us his path. We rely on his nudging, God’s word, the gracious wisdom offered by other believers, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit to follow his narrow way. We cannot live in a way that pleases God without his gracious power at work within us.

Every part of our Christian life is given to us as a free and gracious gift.

We have no power on our own to save ourselves from sin, death, separation from God, failure, and immorality. Relying on God’s Spirit and accepting his plan for our salvation is something we have to do every day.

Grace upon grace is what we must cling to each day. When we realize this truth we can let go of some of the pressure we put on ourselves to “get things right.”

We can place that worry back onto Jesus and once again rely on his power to do what only he can do in our lives.

I cannot help myself but to feel so completely blessed and grateful for all of the great generosity of God at always deep work in my life and your live every day.

https://my.hymnary.org/song/dynamic/26/blessed-assurance-jesus-is-mine?hymnary=1&audiorecording=&tempo=110&style=veroviostatic-&theme=black&shadow=

Despite All My Faults and Failures, I Still Belong to Jesus

There’s something about Paul’s writing here that resonates with me.

Paul is being gut level honest and vulnerable, and here we see him wrestling deep inside himself and not simply with the theology of faith.

God apparently wants us to see and understand that.

So Paul, a significant church leader and follower of Jesus, says there are times when he doesn’t understand himself.

I feel bad for Paul because that isn’t pleasant, especially not for someone who wants the pieces of his life to fit and have integrity.

Though I feel bad for Paul in this situation, I am also thankful that he dares to say what he did, and that God chose to pass that along to me (and all of us).

It clarifies for me that being a follower of Jesus, even when I do plenty of honorable things, doesn’t mean everything in my life falls neatly into place.

But Paul identifies something more.

Even in those areas of my life that don’t fit with my desire to follow Jesus, my heart still knows this: I belong to Jesus.

Even though I sin, I always sin, I do not belong to sin.

I don’t understand even .00001% of myself sometimes, but I know to whom I belong, weaknesses and all. And that’s the point. I belong to my Savior Jesus!

Do you belong to Jesus too?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 46 Complete Jewish Bible

46 ⁽⁰⁾For the leader. By the descendants of Korach. On ‘alamot [high-pitched musical instruments?]. A song:

^2 (1)God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
^3 (2)Therefore we are unafraid,
even if the earth gives way,
even if the mountains tumble
into the depths of the sea,
^4 (3)even if its waters rage and foam,
and mountains shake at its turbulence. (Selah)

^5 (4)There is a river whose streams
gladden the city of God,
the holy habitation of ‘Elyon —
^6 (5)God is in the city.
It will not be moved —
when daybreak comes, God will help it.
^7 (6)Nations were in turmoil,
kingdoms were moved;
his voice thundered forth,
and the earth melted away.

^8 (7)Adonai-Tzva’ot is with us,
our fortress, the God of Ya‘akov. (Selah)
^9 (8)Come and see the works of Adonai,
the astounding deeds he has done on the earth.
^10 (9)To the ends of the earth he makes wars cease —
he breaks the bow, snaps the spear,
burns the shields in the fire.
^11 (10)“Desist, and learn that I am God,
supreme over the nations,
supreme over the earth.”

^12 (11)Adonai-Tzva’ot is with us,
our fortress, the God of Ya‘akov. (Selah)

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

https://translate.google.com/

Let us Teach Kingdom Building One Family at a Time; “Our Father Who Art in Heaven, Our Father Who Art Living on Earth too.” Matthew 6:9-10

Matthew 6:9-13 Complete Jewish Bible

⁹You, therefore, pray like this:

‘Our Father in heaven!
May your Name be kept holy.
¹⁰May your Kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven.

¹¹Give us the food we need today.
¹²Forgive us what we have done wrong,
as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.
¹³And do not lead us into hard testing,
but keep us safe from the Evil One.
^[a]For kingship, power and glory are yours forever.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

These verses come to us from Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount, which begins in Matthew chapter 5. With his disciples gathered around him, Jesus sat down on the mountainside and began teaching the crowds that had come to hear him teach.

In this sermon, Jesus covered a wide range of topics, from Jewish law to anger, giving to the needy, prayer, and more.

Jesus started his teaching about prayer in Matthew 6:5. Here, he explains that prayer is an intimate conversation we have with God, our Father in heaven.

And even though God knows exactly what we need even before we ask him, he still wants us to naturally, intentionally bring our needs and requests to him.

So Jesus instructs us to get out of the public eye and hide ourselves away in a quiet, private place. When we hide ourselves away, Jesus tells us that we can be confident that God, our Father in Heaven sees us, hears us and 100% listening.

Then, as we pray, we are to recognize and acknowledge that God, our Father is in heaven. His sovereignty is absolute and He is not bound by any earthly rules.

He is not influenced by worldly trends or politics. He is outside of everything and able to accomplish infinitely more than we could ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).

Ephesians 3:14-21 Easy-to-Read Version

The Love of Christ

¹⁴So I bow in prayer before the Father. ¹⁵Every family in heaven and on earth gets its true name from him. ¹⁶I ask the Father with his great glory to give you the power to be strong in your spirits. He will give you that strength through his Spirit. ¹⁷I pray that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. I pray that your life will be strong in love and be built on love. ¹⁸And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide, how long, how high, and how deep that love is. ¹⁹ Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with everything God has for you.

²⁰With God’s power working in us, he can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of. ²¹To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen.

Hiding away in a quiet, solitary place to pray such prayers as Jesus taught may appear insignificant. It may even feel “too simple”, as though no power could possibly come from such an unseen, quiet action. But the very opposite is true.

As the Apostle Paul teaches in Ephesians 3:14-21, It is there God, who calls himself your heavenly Father, wishes to meet with you. He comes down from heaven, all the way to your hidden, secluded space, to listen to your prayers.

Right now, God is encouraging us to go into that private place of ours, that “war room” and tell God our Father in Heaven exactly what is on your mind or heavy on your heart here on the earth. While you do so, remind yourself of who He is.

He is the creator of everything, He is the redeemer of your soul, and He is the author and perfecter of your faith. He is ABBA God, who longs to meet with you.

Do not be shy about it. Give him 100% of it. He wants to hear it. Trust Jesus’ words your Father knows exactly what you need, and that he sees everything.

Psalm 139:1-18 Complete Jewish Bible

139 ⁽⁰⁾For the leader. A psalm of David:

⁽¹⁾Adonai, you have probed me, and you know me.
²You know when I sit and when I stand up,
you discern my inclinations from afar,
³you scrutinize my daily activities.
You are so familiar with all my ways
⁴that before I speak even a word, Adonai,
you know all about it already.
⁵You have hemmed me in both behind and in front
and laid your hand on me.
⁶Such wonderful knowledge is beyond me,
far too high for me to reach.

⁷Where can I go to escape your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸If I climb up to heaven, you are there;
if I lie down in Sh’ol, you are there.
⁹If I fly away with the wings of the dawn
and land beyond the sea,
¹⁰even there your hand would lead me,
your right hand would hold me fast.
¹¹If I say, “Let darkness surround me,
let the light around me be night,”
¹²even darkness like this
is not too dark for you;
rather, night is as clear as day,
darkness and light are the same.

¹³For you fashioned my inmost being,
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴I thank you because I am awesomely made,
wonderfully; your works are wonders —
I know this very well.
¹⁵My bones were not hidden from you
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶Your eyes could see me as an embryo,
but in your book all my days were already written;
my days had been shaped
before any of them existed.
¹⁷God, how I prize your thoughts!
How many of them there are!
¹⁸If I count them, there are more than grains of sand;
if I finish the count, I am still with you.

God, Our Father, Who Art in Heaven — Heaven on Earth

Matthew 6:9-13 Amplified Bible

⁹“Pray, then, ^[a]in this way:

‘Our Father, who is in heaven,
^[b]Hallowed be Your name.
¹⁰
‘^[c]Your kingdom come,
Your ^[d]will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹
‘Give us this day our ^[e]daily bread.
¹²
‘And forgive us our ^[f]debts, as we have forgiven our debtors [letting go of both the wrong and the resentment].
¹³
‘And do not ^[g]lead us into temptation, but deliver us from ^[h]evil. ^[i][For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]’

In Matthew 6:9-13 Jesus taught us to pray:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

To seek God’s kingdom coming to earth is to declare our great need for God’s presence, provision, love, and redemption.

As Christian’s, from where ever we are living, moving, having our being, we have each been given a divine mandate of the very highest importance from our King of kings and Lord of lords. Our daily burden is; we are each to carry the kingdom of God with us everywhere we go and release this kingdom through everything we do and say. We are called by Savior Jesus to bring heaven to earth.

Matthew 16:19 Jesus tells his disciples, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

What would it look like for the people of God to release the kingdom of heaven everywhere they go? What would it look like for even just a few of us to truly say yes to the calling of God on our lives to live for more than just worldly pleasure and comfort, to step outside of ourselves and live with an eternal perspective?

You, me, we, are made to make an eternal impact far greater than we can ever see ourselves imagining. God has placed within you keys to the doors of heaven, and he longs to use you to release his love, grace, peace, mercy, and redemption to others in desperate need of him. He longs to call you out from the daily grind of life into a higher pursuit of seeing the earth transformed by his goodness.

Seeing heaven come to earth all starts with our declaring our need of God. It all starts with drawing a circle around ourselves and allowing God to transform each of us from the inside out. We are not called to minister unto others in our own strength or wisdom. We are not called to figure out how to best love people.

We aren’t even called to muster up a desire to bring God’s kingdom to earth. All the weight of eternal impact rests on the shoulders of God, our heavenly Father.

All that is required of us is to take time to let God love us, fill us with the desires of His heart, follow His guidance, leadership to the fulfillment of those desires.

Matthew 14:13-21 Amplified Bible

Five Thousand Fed

¹³When Jesus heard about John, He left there privately in a boat and went to a secluded place. But when the crowds heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt [profound] compassion for them and healed their sick.

¹⁵When evening came, the disciples came to Him and said, “This is an isolated place and the hour is already late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” ¹⁶But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!” ¹⁷They replied, “We have nothing here except five loaves and two fish.” ¹⁸He said, “Bring them here to Me.” ¹⁹Then He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and He took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking up toward heaven, He blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people, ²⁰and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up twelve full baskets of the leftover broken pieces. ²¹ There were about 5,000 men who ate, besides women and children.

God wants us to take our five loaves of bread and two fish and exponentially multiply it to feed the souls of thousands. (Acts 2:37-47)

Acts 2:37-47 Amplified Bible

The Ingathering

³⁷Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart [with remorse and anxiety], and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what are we to do?” ³⁸And Peter said to them, “Repent [change your old way of thinking, turn from your sinful ways, accept and follow Jesus as the Messiah] and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹For the promise [of the Holy Spirit] is for you and your children and for all who are far away [including the Gentiles], as many as the Lord our God calls to Himself.” ⁴⁰And Peter solemnly testified and continued to admonish and urge them with many more words, saying, “^[a]Be saved from this crooked and unjust generation!” ⁴¹So then, those who accepted his message were baptized; and on that day about ^[b]3,000 souls were added [to the body of believers]. ⁴²They were continually and faithfully devoting themselves to the instruction of the apostles, and to fellowship, to ^[c]eating meals together and to prayers.

⁴³A sense of awe was felt by ^[d]everyone, and many wonders and signs (attesting miracles) were taking place through the apostles. ⁴⁴And all those who had believed [in Jesus as Savior] ^[e]were together and had all things in common [considering their possessions to belong to the group as a whole]. ⁴⁵And they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing the proceeds with all [the other believers], as anyone had need. ⁴⁶Day after day they met in the temple [area] continuing with one mind, and breaking bread in various private homes. They were eating their meals together with joy and generous hearts, ⁴⁷praising God continually, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were being saved.

Say yes to partnering with the Holy Spirit, allow God to use us to change the world by bringing His kingdom to earth through simple acts of love, obedience.

Isaiah 55:7-13 Complete Jewish Bible

⁷Let the wicked person abandon his way
and the evil person his thoughts;
let him return to Adonai,
and he will have mercy on him;
let him return to our God,
for he will freely forgive.

⁸“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
and your ways are not my ways,” says Adonai.
⁹“As high as the sky is above the earth
are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
¹⁰For just as rain and snow fall from the sky
and do not return there, but water the earth,
causing it to bud and produce,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
¹¹so is my word that goes out from my mouth —
it will not return to me unfulfilled;
but it will accomplish what I intend,
and cause to succeed what I sent it to do.”

¹²Yes, you will go out with joy,
you will be led forth in peace.
As you come, the mountains and hills
will burst out into song,
and all the trees in the countryside
will clap their hands.
¹³Cypresses will grow in place of thorns,
myrtles will grow instead of briars.
This will bring fame to Adonai
as an eternal, imperishable sign.

Please, Take some significant and quality time in your private and quiet place in guided prayer to allow God’s Living word, His Holy Spirit to teach and empower to inspire you, releasing you into the calling of bringing heaven to earth today.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on the calling to bring God’s kingdom to earth.

Allow Scripture to lay a foundation for powerful works of God’s Spirit to pour out through your life.

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

2. What keys has God given you to release his kingdom?

What spiritual gifts has he given you? What ways do you best love people? How is He using your gifts now, has He used you in the past to reveal his full love?

Galatians 5:17-23 Complete Jewish Bible

¹⁷For the old nature wants what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is contrary to the old nature. These oppose each other, so that you find yourselves unable to carry out your good intentions. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism.

¹⁹And it is perfectly evident what the old nature does. It expresses itself in sexual immorality, impurity and indecency; ²⁰involvement with the occult and with drugs; in feuding, fighting, becoming jealous and getting angry; in selfish ambition, factionalism, intrigue ²¹and envy; in drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you now as I have warned you before: those who do such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God!

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things.

3. Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you how to bring heaven to earth today.

Ask Holy Spirit to fill you up that you might pour out. Ask Holy Spirit to tear down any strongholds that would keep you from loving Him and others well.

Being used by Father God to bring heaven to earth is meant to be a part of the normal, daily Christian life. We are called to more than simply working a job, going to school, hanging out with friends, and trying to enjoy life. No matter what job you work, God wants to bring the kingdom to earth through you.

No matter who your friends are or where you find yourself, God wants to bring the kingdom to earth everywhere around you. If you will say yes every day to the adventure of being used by God, your life will soon begin to take on a whole new purpose so much more fulfilling than anything you’ve previously experienced.

May you each live to see God’s kingdom come to earth through your life today!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 8 Complete Jewish Bible

8 ⁽⁰⁾For the leader. On the gittit. A psalm of David:

^2 (1)Adonai! Our Lord! How glorious
is your name throughout the earth!
The fame of your majesty
spreads even above the heavens!

^3 (2)From the mouths of babies and infants at the breast
you established strength because of your foes,
in order that you might silence
the enemy and the avenger.

^4 (3)When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and stars that you set in place —
^5 (4)what are mere mortals, that you concern yourself with them;
humans, that you watch over them with such care?

^6 (5)You made him but little lower than the angels,
you crowned him with glory and honor,
^7 (6)you had him rule what your hands made,
you put everything under his feet —
^8 (7)sheep and oxen, all of them,
also the animals in the wilds,
^9 (8)the birds in the air, the fish in the sea,
whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

^10 (9)Adonai! Our Lord! How glorious
is your name throughout the earth!

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Kingdom Meets Culture: Steadfast Relationships On a Collision Course; Do We Give Up or Give two Hands Up? Proverbs 13:15-20

Proverbs 13:15-20 Complete Jewish Bible

¹⁵Good common sense produces grace,
but the way of the treacherous is rough.

¹⁶Every cautious person acts with knowledge,
but a fool parades his folly.

¹⁷A wicked messenger falls into evil,
but a faithful envoy brings healing.

¹⁸Poverty and shame are for him who won’t be taught,
but he who heeds reproof will be honored.

¹⁹Desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul,
but turning away from evil is abhorrent to fools.
²⁰He who walks with the wise will become wise,
but the companion of fools will suffer.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Faith, Kingdom and Culture – on a Collision Course

Jesus has warned us in Luke 18:7-8 that when the end is near, He will not be able to find faith on the earth. And that could mean only one thing: Christian men and women’s faith is going to come under severe attack and whatever that is that is attacking our faith from all sides will somehow get the upper hand.

The first thing that is certainly going to attack our faith and it is the world.

The “values” of this world will try to hard sell themselves as the same as the values of our God. But they are not. The values of this world are a moving target, constantly changing, and the value, values, of God are unchanging, constant.

The values of this world will try to hard sell themselves to you by enticements. The values of God are laid out plainly, precisely, in His Word, no enticements, and someday, you. me, we, will need to make a choice to accept or reject them.

Today, we are going to take a closer look at a second possible collision course with our faith and those are the toxic individual and group relationships that we are each probably in, and everybody has those relationships that we maintain.

For this devotion, you need to do an inventory of people you are in relationship with, and you need to honestly evaluate if they are helping you to get closer to God, or are they trying to bully, strongarm or subtlety pull you away from God.

And if they are trying to bully, strongarm or subtlety pull you away from God and your faith then they aught to be prayed over, possibly considered as toxic.

Today, we are going to look at some of the characteristics of toxic relationships, and then you, me, we have got to pray, decide if you are going to maintain those relationships or are you going to let your faith win, bring them to faith in God?

So, just as our faith is on a collision course with the world; our faith is also on a collision course with those relationships that threaten to, raise the red flag risk, to move us away, trying to separate us, remove us from God and from our faith.

SCRIPTURE TEXT REFERENCE

(20) Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. Proverbs 13:20 – NIV

My Only Point is this …

If God wants to bless you, God sends people into your life that will be a blessing.

If the devil wants to harm you, the devil will send people in your life that will inevitably harm you. Our job is to determine who those people are that is going to be either a blessing and who are those people that are going to be harmful.

To rightly discern who is going to be a blessing, and who is going to be harmful greatly matters.

In I Corinthians 15:33 we are told “Do not be misled. Bad company corrupts good character.”

You hang with the wrong people, they are going to bring you down, you are not as likely going to bring them up. And since that is straight from the Word of God, we know that is true, and so if we are in those toxic relationship (those that bring us down) our fellowship with God is going to suffer and inevitably our faith will suffer. Those toxic relationships collide head on against our faith.

Psalm 1 Complete Jewish Bible

Book I: Psalms 1–41

1 How blessed are those
who reject the advice of the wicked,
don’t stand on the way of sinners
or sit where scoffers sit!
²Their delight
is in Adonai’s Torah;
on his Torah they meditate
day and night.
³They are like trees planted by streams —
they bear their fruit in season,
their leaves never wither,
everything they do succeeds.

⁴Not so the wicked,
who are like chaff driven by the wind.
⁵For this reason the wicked
won’t stand up to the judgment,
nor will sinners
at the gathering of the righteous.
⁶For Adonai watches over
the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked
is doomed.

The great King David knew this, so he tells us in Psalms 1:1– (1) Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

Paul, the author of the majority of the New Testament, knew this when he instructed the Ephesians church in Ephesians 5:7-9 (7) Therefore do not be partners with them. (8) For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (9) (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth)

So, I cannot stress enough how important it is to know the characteristics of harmful relationships. I want to share with you these three of them today.

There are people in your life who knew you back when and they want to hold you in their past, in the good old days of “before”. Those relationships are toxic.

(17) So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. Ephesians 4:17 – NIV

I am not the same person I was before I knew Christ.

Today, as I look back on my life before Christ, I don’t even like the person I was before I knew Christ.

I am so thankful that God saved me and made me a new creation and is even now changing me day by day.

But every one of us who are Christian have some family or friends, neighbors, that knew us back when we were not Christian, and they liked the way we acted back then prior to our salvation because we acted funny, foolish, just like them.

We might have gone out and partied with them; drank and smoked with them; used the same vulgar language as them; did drugs just like them, committed some petty act with them and had no regard for the things of God just like them.

And now they see the difference in you, and they don’t necessarily like it.

And so, they confront you, challenge you, bully and strongarm you let you know their displeasure with comments such as “What happened to you, you use to be able to go out with us and have a fun time, now you are this ‘high holy roller’?”

“What happened to you? You changed, you betrayed us and we don’t like it.” “We wish you would come back, be our friend, go back to the way you were.”

Tell me … does any of this have the very slightest ring of familiarity to you, to someone you know? Is there a God sound of the great shofar’s call to “truth?”

We read, study, and pray over Scripture from Ephesians 5 where Paul says I understand you were just like your unsaved family and friends before you knew Christ, but now you are different and so you got to live a separated life.

Even Jesus, Himself, while He was performing His earthly ministry, people wanted to hold Him in His past.

In Matthew 13, Jesus returned to his hometown to minister to the people.

But the people did not want the Jesus who was ministering in the town and villages instructing the people and performing miracles, but they wanted the Jesus of the past. Mary’s son, the son of a carpenter, one of their town folks!

They wanted Jesus the young boy not Jesus the master Rabbi, changing all that they believed and Savior of the world. They wanted to hold Him in the past.

And so, if people tried to hold Jesus in the past, we certainly will have people in our lives who want to hold us in our past. They want us to go back to the old ways rather than be glad that we are growing in our relationship with Christ.

Those people are toxic.

There are people in your life who will always tell you what you want to hear, those people are toxic.

(3) For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 2 Timothy 4:3 – NIV

I come up with ideas all the time; some of them I confess are brilliant, but some of them I confess are the dumbest ideas on the planet.

I don’t need someone in my life who will tell me that my brilliant ideas are brilliant; and my dumbest ideas are echelons beyond the worlds dumbest.

Proverbs 12:26 Complete Jewish Bible

²⁶The righteous guides his friend’s way rightly,
but the way of the wicked will lead them astray.

I need someone of faith to tell me that my dumb ideas are really dumb. I need to hear 100% truth revealed through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit of God.

And the person who does not tell me the genuine truth according the Word of God may be out to cause me to fall into error. And what gets injured? My faith!

You don’t need a preacher, if you came to him for advice, to tell you what you want to hear. He better tell you what the Word of God says. If he tells you what you want to hear, he could lead you astray. If he tells you the truth you may be as angry as heck at him, but he told you something that can set you free if you only rightly discern God’s righteous truth, listen to the Holy Spirit within you.

You may not want to hear this, but this is the truth.

When I was growing up my parents had no problem telling me something I did not want to hear. No, you cannot use the car tonight. No, you cannot have that $20.00 to buy that thing you don’t need. No, I am not stopping everything I am doing and take you to your friend’s house or to the movies right this minute.

Do you know what so many, too many, parents will do today? They tell children what they want to hear, they let their immature children take charge of living.

You are not helping your children by doing everything they want, giving them everything they want, jumping when they say jump. Let me tell you children don’t always do the right thing and sometimes what they want is not going to be good for them and they need to know you as the parent is in charge not them.

It will teach for when they will have a boss over them later in life. If you are doing those things for your children (letting them do what they want, go where they want, and jump at their orders), you may think that you are being a good parent, but you are not – they do not know better. You are being a toxic parent.

They do not have enough intellectual and moral and emotional maturity to tell anyone what gender they know they should be instead of what they were born with, created, shaped in the Womb by God with-they cannot grasp all the long term permanent implications – that parents know very well but will not teach.

“We need to stand up, affirm them in their choices …” “it is their life, after all!”

The ever living, ever revealing, Words of God’s truth, commands 2 completely different lessons be taught and then retaught to all of the coming generations …

Genesis 1:26-28 Complete Jewish Bible

²⁷So God created humankind in his own image;
in the image of God he created him:
male and female he created them.

Psalm 139:1-18 Complete Jewish Bible

139 ⁽⁰⁾For the leader. A psalm of David:

The Days are Surely Coming or Have Now Arrived

(1) But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. (2) People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, (3) without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, (4) treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— (5) having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 – NIV

Paul admonishes Timothy that there are always going to be people who will tell you, everyone; “Oh, yes I am a Christian” and he or she know the right things to say and so they have a form of godliness or there may be people who are in the church house that have a form of godliness because of their church attendance.

But having their lifestyle revealed, by the way that they live, shouts, preaches, teaches, he or she is not a Christian. Paul tells Timothy to seriously avoid them.

That means there might be some wolves in the sheep house. They may be in the pew or in the pulpit. In fact, they may be in your pew, pulpit. They may be in our deacon body. And worse yet they might be the senior Pastor or Associate Pastor.

Paul is telling us, each one of us, to keep our eyes open out in the world and even in the church house. Those who are saved ought to know how they should be living, and if you don’t see that in the life of someone else you know who expresses that he or she is a Christian, bells and whistles and great blasts of the shofar ought to be ringing out and going off in your head. Keep your distance.

Why is that so important?

Remember 1 Corinthians 15:33 which tells us that bad company corrupts good morals.

Conclusion …

Matthew 18:12-20 Complete Jewish Bible

¹²“What’s your opinion? What will somebody do who has a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine on the hillsides and go off to find the stray? ¹³And if he happens to find it? Yes! I tell you he is happier over it than over the ninety-nine that never strayed! ¹⁴Thus your Father in heaven does not want even one of these little ones to be lost.

¹⁵“Moreover, if your brother commits a sin against you, go and show him his fault — but privately, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. ¹⁶If he doesn’t listen, take one or two others with you so that every accusation can be supported by the testimony of two or three witnesses.^[a] ¹⁷If he refuses to hear them, tell the congregation; and if he refuses to listen even to the congregation, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax-collector. ¹⁸Yes! I tell you people that whatever you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven. ¹⁹To repeat, I tell you that if two of you here on earth agree about anything people ask, it will be for them from my Father in heaven. ²⁰For wherever two or three are assembled in my name, I am there with them.”

In closing remarks let me say this. Avoiding toxic relationships does not excuse our duty to witness to those who are being toxic. We are to witness to those who are lost, no question. Are we still not covenanted by God to be their best friends?

Jesus witnessed to publicans and sinner and told them about Himself and the salvation that He was offering, but He did not hang around with Him. He was usually with His apostles and the disciples. Those who lives resembled His.

We have a covenant duty to witness, and keep witnessing to all sinners but we also have a sacred duty to keep our faith strong by avoiding toxic relationships.

Those who have ears, let them hear with both of them …

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 119:105-112 Complete Jewish Bible

נ (Nun)

¹⁰⁵Your word is a lamp for my foot
and light on my path.
¹⁰⁶I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
that I will observe your righteous rulings.
¹⁰⁷I am very much distressed;
Adonai, give me life, in keeping with your word.
¹⁰⁸Please accept my mouth’s voluntary offerings, Adonai;
and teach me your rulings.
¹⁰⁹I am continually taking my life in my hands,
yet I haven’t forgotten your Torah.
¹¹⁰The wicked have set a trap for me,
yet I haven’t strayed from your precepts.
¹¹¹I take your instruction as a permanent heritage,
because it is the joy of my heart.
¹¹²I have resolved to obey your laws
forever, at every step.

פ (Peh)

¹²⁹Your instruction is a wonder;
this is why I follow it.
¹³⁰Your words are a doorway that lets in light,
giving understanding to the thoughtless.
¹³¹My mouth is wide open, as I pant
with longing for your mitzvot.
¹³²Turn to me, and show me your favor;
in keeping with [your] judgment for those who love your name.
¹³³Guide my footsteps by your word;
don’t let any kind of sin rule me.
¹³⁴Redeem me from human oppression,
and I will observe your precepts.
¹³⁵Make your face shine on your servant,
and teach me your laws.
¹³⁶Rivers of tears flow down from my eyes,
because they don’t observe your Torah.

23 ⁽⁰⁾A psalm of David:

⁽¹⁾Adonai is my shepherd; I lack nothing.
²He has me lie down in grassy pastures,
he leads me by quiet water,
³he restores my inner person.
He guides me in right paths
for the sake of his own name.
⁴Even if I pass through death-dark ravines,
I will fear no disaster; for you are with me;
your rod and staff reassure me.

⁵You prepare a table for me,
even as my enemies watch;
you anoint my head with oil
from an overflowing cup.

⁶Goodness and grace will pursue me
every day of my life;
and I will live in the house of Adonai
for years and years to come.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

https://translate.google.com/

Husbands and their Wives, Wives and their Husbands, Honoring Together in Love, the Knowledge, the Wisdom, the Truth, of the Gospel. Titus 2:3-5

Titus 2:3-5 Amplified Bible

³Older women similarly are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor addicted to much wine, teaching what is right and good, ⁴so that they may encourage the young women to tenderly love their husbands and their children, ⁵to be sensible, pure, makers of a home [where God is honored], good-natured, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

… ⁵to be sensible, pure, makers of a home [where God is honored], good-natured, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. (Amplified Bible)

⁵and to be sensible, morally pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, so that God’s word won’t be ridiculed. (Common English Bible)

⁵sound-minded, pure, working-at-home^[a], good, while being subject to their own husbands, in order that the word of God may not be blasphemed. (Disciples’ Literal New Testament (DLNT))

⁵They will teach them to be wise and pure, to take care of their homes, to be kind, and to be willing to serve their husbands. Then no one will be able to criticize the teaching God gave us. (Easy to Read Version)

A God-Filled Life

2 ^1-6Your job is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine. Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance. Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don’t want anyone looking down on God’s Message because of their behavior. Also, guide the young men to live disciplined lives. (The Message)

⁵to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. (NIV)

Husbands and Wives, Wives and Husbands …

Raising their families, Shaping and Transforming Their Households …

So that the Word of God for the Children of God will not be dishonored.

So that the Word of God for the Children of God will not be ridiculed.

So that the Word of God for the Children of God will not be blasphemed.

So, Then no one will be able to criticize the teaching God gave us.

We don’t want anyone looking down on God’s Message because of their behavior.

For as long as I can remember, I equated discipleship with a program, a fixed, step by step methodical way of helping people to grow in spiritual maturity.

I thought that to disciple someone meant that I had to carve out time to read and study the Bible or a Christian book with them, one on one. But with all the demands of life, I felt I just didn’t have enough bandwidth to do discipleship.

And I felt very guilty about it. Even as recent as my last worship service, when my wife gave her testimony on John 8:47 when we talked at length about doing spiritual good to one another, there was this nagging at the back of my mind telling me that I should be discipling someone or being discipled by someone.

John 8:42-47 GOD’S WORD Translation

⁴²Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me. After all, I’m here, and I came from God. I didn’t come on my own. Instead, God sent me. ⁴³Why don’t you understand the language I use? Is it because you can’t understand the words I use? ⁴⁴You come from your father, the devil, and you desire to do what your father wants you to do. The devil was a murderer from the beginning. He has never been truthful. He doesn’t know what the truth is. Whenever he tells a lie, he’s doing what comes naturally to him. He’s a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵So you don’t believe me because I tell the truth. ⁴⁶Can any of you convict me of committing a sin? If I’m telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷The person who belongs to God understands what God says. You don’t understand because you don’t belong to God.”

Hence, I find it ironic, that God in His wisdom should show me this passage from Titus to approach me to do this sharing about being married, about that responsibility to live and love together and having a household that honors my wife, my God and correctly discern the Word of God, study to show myself and my wife approved, to teach, preach, live by the example set by Savior Christ.

I am the least qualified to speak about this—and still don’t have it all together.

But by God’s grace, we have His Word in Titus 2:3-5 that helps us to know what this critical process of discipling others and honoring God’s Word looks like.

TEACH WHAT ACCORDS WITH SOUND DOCTRINE

Paul prefaces this passage with a command to both men and women to teach what accords with sound doctrine (Titus 2:1). This is a key message of this letter which he again repeats in Titus 2:3. In fact, in Titus 1, he says in his greetings to Titus that the purpose of his labors is for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth (Titus 1:1). And Titus 1:9, Paul tells Titus that an elder must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so they may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine, to rebuke those who contradict it (Titus 1:9).

BELIEF AND BEHAVIOUR

In Titus 2:3-5, Paul links the teaching of sound doctrine with a life that is evidenced by the fruit of the gospel. Our behavior is shaped by our beliefs. If we believe the gospel, then our lives should be characterized by godliness. Jesus says in Luke 6:43-44, “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit.”

Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead (James 2:17).

And as many Reformed scholars have put it—we are justified by our faith alone, but not by faith that is alone. It is impossible to have faith that is not evidenced by our works.

GOOD WORKS

What does this good fruit or works look like? It is there in Titus 2:3-5—being reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine, being loving towards our husbands and children, being self-controlled, pure, working at home, assertive, kind and respectful and submissive to our own husbands.

Just to be clear—these instructions do not apply to married women and mothers only, but to all women who are speaking the truth to one another.

Paul himself calls Titus his “true child in a common faith” (Titus 1:4) and Timothy his “beloved child” (2 Tim 1:2).

The good works described here are relational; they happen in community—in our families, at our places of work, in church.

TRAINING

So how do we get from teaching what is good to living a life that reflects the gospel? Through practice (or training)!

James says that we are to be doers of the word, and not hearers only (James 1:22).

Training is a lot like parenting.

As a parent, you are not just helping your child grow in knowledge, you are also training them to behave in a certain way through affirmation and discipline.

Deuteronomy 6:7 says we should teach God’s Word diligently to our children and shall talk of them when we sit in our house, and when we walk by the way, and when we lie down, and when we rise.

Proverbs 22:6 Amplified Train up a child in the way he should go [teaching him to seek God’s wisdom and will for his abilities and talents], Even when he is old he will not depart from it.

There are many forms of teaching.

There is talking about the Bible with our children, doing family devotions with them, being intentional about the gospel in your conversations with them.

But to talk to them from morning to night is a tall ask.

Instead, this verse in Deuteronomy implies that our children also learn through our conduct when we go about our daily activities.

They model our behavior, they model how we treat others like waiters at a restaurant, other family members, and friends. They listen; Are we kind in our speech, are we hospitable towards each other, friends, family, neighbors?

They listen in to our conversations, how we speak about others, what words and phrases we use, what conversations revolve around—work? money? gossip?

They see what we do, how we act, around the house, do we leave everything to our helper or do we chip in and help with the required household chores.

What routines do we have? Do we spend all our free time watching Netflix? Do we sacrifice any of our comforts or adjust our schedule to make time for others?

Guaranteed, We will make mistakes. We may discipline or say unkind words out of anger after a long day or take out our work stress on our children. But it is in these moments that we can clothe ourselves with Christ’s humility, teach and model prayer, ask God, our children for forgiveness when we sin against them.

The goal of training described in Titus 2 is to present everyone mature in Christ (c.f. Col 1:28).

Hebrews 12:1-2 Amplified Bible

Jesus, the Example

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of ^[a]witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness], stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us, ²[looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, ^[b]disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].

We want to see people grow in their knowledge of God and their understanding of The Way and The Truth and The Life if the Bible, so that this next generation, these next “great clouds of future witnesses” may, so when their opportunities reveal themselves, they too will proclaim Him to everyone. We want to see them each grow and mature in godly character so they may resemble more of Christ.

What is the book of Titus trying to reveal to us, trying to poignantly teach us?

Paul’s letter to Titus urged him to remind believers that while they do live in a sinful culture, they can be transformed into a new humanity by the same grace that Jesus demonstrated when he died to redeem them. As a new generation of humanity, they can, should reject lifestyles which are clearly inconsistent with the immutable truths revealed by God’s own Words to us, God’s generous love.

The Apostles’ Teaching

Hebrews 4:12-13 Amplified Bible

¹²For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged ^[a]sword, penetrating as far as the division of the ^[b]soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, and revealed to the eyes of Him with whom we have to give account.

Not long ago I heard someone say that if you believe you can possess truth as your own, you will be argumentative and defensive, sometimes even violent.

However, if you realize that truth is something you point to, that only our God owns, you’ll be kind and compassionate because you know truth is for everyone.

If there is one thing that has polarized our society, it is personal expressions of truth.

If you are a follower of Jesus, or you are becoming a follower, you need to know that you are called to be devoted to the truth that belongs not to you but to God.

The very reason Jesus’ early followers held on to and continued in the apostles’ teaching was that the apostles had been with Jesus and had heard the truth from his very lips. Jesus’ followers knew these teachings taught life itself.

When I look at the world around me, I see so much confusion and chaos.

Maybe you see some of the same wasteland.

As people who are trying to find our way through the wasteland of confusion and chaos today, families need to find our anchor in the foundational truth of Jesus so that we don’t build our lives upon the ever-changing sand of society.

The early believers’ devotion to the apostles’ teaching gave them a deep sense of awe for what would lead them to live with holy reverence for God, his Word.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 19 Complete Jewish Bible

19 ⁽⁰⁾For the leader. A psalm of David:

^2 (1)The heavens declare the glory of God,
the dome of the sky speaks the work of his hands.
^3 (2)Every day it utters speech,
every night it reveals knowledge.
^4 (3)Without speech, without a word,
without their voices being heard,
^5 (4)their line goes out through all the earth
and their words to the end of the world.

In them he places a tent for the sun,
^6 (5)which comes out like a bridegroom from the bridal chamber,
with delight like an athlete to run his race.
^7 (6)It rises at one side of the sky,
circles around to the other side,
and nothing escapes its heat.

^8 (7)The Torah of Adonai is perfect,
restoring the inner person.
The instruction of Adonai is sure,
making wise the thoughtless.
^9 (8)The precepts of Adonai are right,
rejoicing the heart.
The mitzvah of Adonai is pure,
enlightening the eyes.
^10 (9)The fear of Adonai is clean,
enduring forever.
The rulings of Adonai are true,
they are righteous altogether,
^11 (10)more desirable than gold,
than much fine gold,
also sweeter than honey
or drippings from the honeycomb.
^12 (11)Through them your servant is warned;
in obeying them there is great reward.

^13 (12)Who can discern unintentional sins?
Cleanse me from hidden faults.
^14 (13)Also keep your servant from presumptuous sins,
so that they won’t control me.
Then I will be blameless
and free of great offense.

^15 (14)May the words of my mouth
and the thoughts of my heart
be acceptable in your presence,
Adonai, my Rock and Redeemer.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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A Word of God for the Husbands, for the soon to be Husbands: Marriage is A Sacred Union between you and God. Ephesians 5:25-28

Ephesians 5:25-28 The Message

^25-28Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re already “one” in marriage.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Husbands and future Husbands … God’s message for you this day is to give quite literally everything you have, everything you are, everything you will ever come to have — in love and truth, honor and honesty and integrity, in sickness and in health, in wealth and in poverty and and give it all unto God and unto your wife.

Why such a seemingly insurmountable standard of living?

Because that standard of living is exactly that standard of living which God’s only Son, Jesus Christ, gave to His Father and gave to you of His own free will, without conditions, bearing everything, with complete and utter sacrifice, on the Cross at Calvary. He gave everything He had in faithful obedience to God.

That is the highest standard of living for us Husbands and you future Husbands in the care and the nurturing and strengthening, cleansing them with the Word of God, preparing our Brides for God, presentation of our Wives before our God.

Do we hit the mark?

Do we know where the mark is?

Do we know with any certainty what the mark even looks like, or resembles?

Do we even know that there is a mark?

Are even aware and do we even care that there is a mark?

Be made aware now, Husbands and future Husbands; God is ALWAYS aware!

A Word to Husbands and Future Husbands

Ephesians 5:25-30 New American Standard Bible 1995

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, ²⁶so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷that He might present to Himself the church ^[a]in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. ²⁸So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; ²⁹for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, ³⁰because we are members of His body.

Guys, by God’s grace, every Christian marriage is about more than marriage.

The purpose of human marriage is to point away from itself to the ultimate marriage made in heaven: that of Christ, the Bridegroom, and the church, His bride. Marriage, in other words, is about God’s ultimate purpose “to unite all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1:10).

This is why the Apostle Paul offers very specific instructions for Husbands and future Husbands: so that their marriages might display the union God intends.

In marriage, the husband’s primary objective is not to make sure his wife is physically and emotionally sustained. That is one part of it, of course—but his ultimate objective should be that his wife will be prepared to meet Jesus.

To that end, the word that Paul uses for “love” here, agape, is important: it expresses self-sacrifice and self-abasement. It’s about what we give, not what we get. It’s about what we owe, not what we’re due. It’s not about seeking what’s good for you; it’s about giving yourself up for what’s truly good for your wife, so that she might be “holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27).

This was the purpose for which Christ gave His life for His church; and, as a mark of this, it’s what a Husband is to give himself up for, pursue for his wife.

But as you are a Husband, have plans to be a Husband, will soon unite with your fiancé to be her Husband, how do you become that living witness of the fullness of this Christ like love in this way in the day-to-day immorality, reality, of life?

One practical step is to look for the absence of “NAG-ing”.

Philippians 1:27-30 New American Standard Bible 1995

²⁷Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one ^[a]mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; ²⁸in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. ²⁹For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, ³⁰experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

That is, you must renounce neglect, physically, emotionally, and spiritually—and, if career, club, or church responsibilities interfere, you may need to re-evaluate your commitments.

You also need to renounce abuse, which, while including more egregious sins, also encompasses belittling your wife, talking down to her, treating her with disregard, or acting as if she’s really fortunate to be married to you.

And finally, you need to ensure you never take our God and your marriage to your wife for granted, which can become so easy, too easy, as time goes by.

Yet as helpful as such practical reminders are, the ultimate yardstick for, and motivation to, love is the cross-shaped love of Christ for His bride, the church.

Without a clear view, a clear vision, a profound measure of wisdom, of how Jesus loves His church, our best intentions flounder, our failures will crush us.

So we must look to Christ, who, although He needed no one and nothing, came and gave literally everything of Himself up in order that we, in our need, in our rebellion, and emptiness, may be caught up in His embrace, welcomed into His heart, brought into His family, and considered a presentable part of His bride.

Philippians 2:5-11 New American Standard Bible 1995

⁵Have this attitude ^[a]in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be ^[b] grasped, ⁷but ^[c]emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. ⁸Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death ^[d]on a cross. ⁹For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Do, are you, finding yourself saying, “Why would He ever love me like that?”

If so, you see what a high calling it is for Husbands to “love your wives, as Christ loved the church.”

So if you are a Husband, or hope to be one day, it must start with prayer: prayer that the Holy Spirit will enable you to think biblically, live obediently, and truly love selflessly.

And if you are a wife, or hope to be one day, this should likewise be your prayer for your Husband, or Husband to be for the sake of your mutual joy and his, and your mutual strengthening and bonding, but #1 most of all is all for God’s glory.

From the Beginning; for God, Marriage is a Holy, Sacred Union

Ephesians 5:25-33 Amplified Bible

²⁵Husbands, love your wives [seek the highest good for her and surround her with a caring, unselfish love], just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, ²⁶so that He might sanctify the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word [of God], ²⁷so that [in turn] He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy [set apart for God] and blameless. ²⁸Even so husbands should and are morally obligated to love their own wives as [being in a sense] their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. ²⁹For no one ever hated his own body, but [instead] he nourishes and protects and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰ because we are members (parts) of His body. ³¹For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined [and be faithfully devoted] to his wife, and the two shall become ^[a]one flesh. ³²This mystery [of two becoming one] is great; but I am speaking with reference to [the relationship of] Christ and the church. ³³However, each man among you [without exception] is to love his wife as his very own self [with behavior worthy of respect and esteem, always seeking the best for her with an attitude of lovingkindness], and the wife [must see to it] that she respects and delights in her husband [that she notices him and prefers him and treats him with loving concern, treasuring him, honoring him, and holding him dear].

Marriage is a sacred union created and designed and shaped exclusively by God, a mirror reflection of his love and commitment to his people. It is a covenant relationship that calls us to sacrificial love, selflessness, and mutual support.

In a world that often prioritizes severe immorality, self-gratification, marriage is meant to envision the deep beauty of sacrificial love. As husbands and wives, we are called to follow the example of Savior Christ’s love for the church by our giving of our whole selves fully for the well-being, flourishing of our spouse.

Marriage is a covenant journey of growth, forgiveness, and shared experiences.

It is a covenant partnership in which two uniquely created individuals strive to understand, honor, and cherish one another. It requires open communication, vulnerability, sacrifice and commitment, to work through challenges together.

In the highest highs and lowest lows and bottomless cisterns of married life, we find opportunities for growth, grace, and deepening intimacy. In the context of marriage we learn how to offer selfless love, encouragement, mercy, to extend forgiveness, and at all costs, to support one another’s dreams and aspirations.

Matthew 5:13-16 Amplified Bible

Disciples and the World

¹³“You are the ^[a]salt of the earth; but if the salt has ^[b]lost its taste (purpose), how can it be made salty? It is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out and walked on by people [when the walkways are wet and slippery].

¹⁴“You are the light of [Christ to] the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; ¹⁵nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Today let’s honor the sacredness of the covenant of marriage.

May we embrace the call to love, serve our spouse, imitating Christ’s selfless love. Let’s cultivate a spirit of humility, understanding, and compassion in our relationships, our marriages reflect the reality of God’s love, and faithfulness, bringing honor, glory, to him, serving as beacons of hope in a broken world.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 84 Complete Jewish Bible

84 ⁽⁰⁾For the leader. On the gittit. A psalm of the sons of Korach:

^2 (1)How deeply loved are your dwelling-places,
Adonai-Tzva’ot!
^3 (2)My soul yearns, yes, faints with longing
for the courtyards of Adonai;
my heart and body cry for joy
to the living God.

^4 (3)As the sparrow finds herself a home
and the swallow her nest, where she lays her young,
[so my resting-place is] by your altars,
Adonai-Tzva’ot, my king and my God.

^5 (4)How happy are those who live in your house;
they never cease to praise you! (Selah)
^6 (5)How happy the man whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are [pilgrim] highways.

^7 (6)Passing through the [dry] Baka Valley,
they make it a place of springs,
and the early rain clothes it with blessings.
^8 (7)They go from strength to strength
and appear before God in Tziyon.

^9 (8)Adonai, God of armies, hear my prayer;
listen, God of Ya‘akov. (Selah)
^10 (9)God, see our shield [the king];
look at the face of your anointed.
^11 (10)Better a day in your courtyards
than a thousand [days elsewhere].
Better just standing at the door of my God’s house
than living in the tents of the wicked.

^12 (11)For Adonai, God, is a sun and a shield;
Adonai bestows favor and honor;
he will not withhold anything good
from those whose lives are pure.

^13 (12)Adonai-Tzva’ot,
how happy is anyone who trusts in you!

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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A Man and a Woman contemplating; ‘But for Adam there was not found a companion suitable for helping him.’ Genesis 2:20

Genesis 2:19-24 Complete Jewish Bible

¹⁹So from the ground Adonai, God, formed every wild animal and every bird that flies in the air, and he brought them to the person to see what he would call them. Whatever the person would call each living creature, that was to be its name. (S: iii) ²⁰So the person gave names to all the livestock, to the birds in the air and to every wild animal. But for Adam there was not found a companion suitable for helping him.

²¹Then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the person; and while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and closed up the place from which he took it with flesh. ²²The rib which Adonai, God, had taken from the person, he made a woman-person; and he brought her to the man-person. ²³The man-person said, “At last! This is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. She is to be called Woman ^[a], because she was taken out of Man ^[b].” ²⁴This is why a man is to leave his father and mother and stick with his wife, and they are to be one flesh.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

In Genesis 2 we find a close-up of the first wedding ever celebrated.

It took place in Paradise at the beginning of history, and it was one of the most impressive events ever.

The setting was more beautiful than at any other wedding. The first bride and groom, Adam and Eve, were surrounded by the unstained, breathtaking beauty of God’s creation.

No modern-day florist or outdoor photographer could begin to capture the beauty of that setting.

Most impressive about that first wedding, though, was that God himself conducted the ceremony: “the LORD God made a woman … and he brought her to the man.”

This is the Bible’s way of telling us that marriage is from God, established as a creation ordinance.

Marriage was not invented by a human being; it was instituted by God when he created us “male and female” (Genesis 1:27) brought Adam and Eve together.

Marriage, then, is sacred.

All who marry receive a special gift from God’s own hands.

And because from the beginning marriage is exclusively from God, we need to listen carefully to God’s expectations for marriage, for husbands and for wives.

Genesis 2:20 Complete Jewish Bible

(S: iii) ²⁰So the person gave names to all the livestock, to the birds in the air and to every wild animal. But for Adam there was not found a companion suitable for helping him.

“A COMPANION suitable for HELPING him.” ….

which goes without saying this is also true of this newly created relationship;

“A COMPANION suitable for HELPING her.” …

Biblical Companionship – from Genesis 2:20; it is freely Sharing one’s life with another person day in and day out through thick and thin, health sickness, rain and sunshine till death do they part– this is what companionship involves. It means living and working together towards common goals and experiencing common interests together, sharing the joys of victory and the grief of failure.

What is the deeper meaning of companionship?

Companionship most certainly means something different to everyone.

It involves more than just somebody being there; it’s about wanting that person there, to help you, to care about you and to care for you enjoying their company and developing a helping relationship that comes naturally to you.

Companionship is extremely important for both your mental and physical and spiritual wellbeing.

Throughout all history, many people will see, have seen, the outcome of their marriage as toss-up. But marriage has the God-given potential to be a powerful source of blessing to all who follow the instructions of the One who ordained it.

What does God say about having a companion?

The principle of spiritual companionship is clearly present throughout the Bible.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor; for if they fall, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls and does not have another to lift him up!

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Complete Jewish Bible

⁹Two are better than one, in that their cooperative efforts yield this advantage: ¹⁰if one of them falls, the other will help his partner up — woe to him who is alone when he falls and has no one to help him up. ¹¹Again, if two people sleep together, they keep each other warm; but how can one person be warm by himself? ¹²Moreover, an attacker may defeat someone who is alone, but two can resist him; and a three-stranded cord is not easily broken.

Read verse 9 again and out loud-to yourself in the mirror, then to your spouse or to your fiancé.’

Eyes on the phrase…“in that their COOPERATIVE efforts yield this advantage.”

What is the “cooperative” companionship of marriage in the Bible?

Companionship is the first purpose of marriage. In Genesis 2:18, the Lord said it wasn’t good for man to be alone. God designed marriage so that man and woman could have a cooperative relationship, relationship is based on love, trust, communication and provides a picture of our relationship with the Lord.

What is the real meaning of companionship?

Companionship is when you feel a sense of closeness being with another person. Your grandmother’s companionship with her best friend might keep her feeling young and happy. You probably experience companionship with your best friend or romantic partner, or maybe even with your siblings.

What is the spiritual meaning of cooperative companionship in our marriages?

Spiritual Companionship provides you with spiritual guidance which will help facilitate and support an honest self-examination required for your personal development and growth. The hope is to nurture cooperation, trust, a deeper self-awareness and truth of who you are and the greatness that lies within.

How did Jesus show companionship?

He spent time with His friends and disciples during His time living and walking among us on earth (John 3:22).

He spent time with them and grew to know and understand them (Luke 10:28-42). He walked, talked, taught, alongside of them in ministry. He shared meals with sinners, those He was closest to and enjoyed their fellowship (John 12:1-3).

What are examples of companionship in marriage?

Recreational companionship …

Going out for dinner, going to a movie, or taking a walk are all activities that can be enjoyable. It’s easy to let life get in our relationships, but we must make deliberately take time for each other. Partners should 100% schedule a quality time every week so you can mutually ensure your shared needs are being met.

What is companionship between husband and wife?

What is companionship in marriage? Essentially companionship in marriage is the same as companionship in a relationship.

In addition to having an unyielding love for your mate, they are also someone you choose to spend “one flesh” adult time, raise children, create a family unit with because you both like to. Live, love, move, with God, together in harmony.

What is the biblical companionship in marriage?

God created marriage to be a relationship of companionship. God designed husband and wife in such a way that they meet the needs of each other. The foundation of this companionship is living, loving, moving, faithfully before God, and this companionship is spiritually enriched by doing things together.

What are the rules of companionship?

Love, goodwill, wisdom, cooperation, understanding are absolutely required.

A sense of humor is quite necessary.

Unyieldingly respect each other and each other’s desire for privacy. Be tolerant.

Why God Made Marriage

Genesis 2:15-18 Complete Jewish Bible

¹⁵Adonai, God, took the person and put him in the garden of ‘Eden to cultivate and care for it. ¹⁶Adonai, God, gave the person this order: “You may freely eat from every tree in the garden ¹⁷except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You are not to eat from it, because on the day that you eat from it, it will become certain that you will die.”

¹⁸Adonai, God, said, “It isn’t good that the person should be alone. I will make for him a companion suitable for helping him.”

I recall a Larry King Live show featuring several celebrity women who had formed an “ex-wives club.” Most of them had been married more than once, yet they all agreed that marriage was not so special. That prompted Larry King to ask, “If marriage is not special, why try it for that second or third time?”

The answer to that question is found, at least in part, in Genesis 2:18, where God says, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” Adam needed a companion, needed a helper. Without the woman, Adam was lonely.

So God caused a great sleep upon Adam, took a rib from his chest and brought Eve into his life to make him more relationally complete.

God gave Adam from within himself a lifelong partner with whom he could have a deeply meaningful, intimate relationship.

Through marriage, God gives us a companion to share all of the experiences of life.

A spouse is someone who understands us, someone who is there for us every step of the way.

God’s own creation. God’s gift of marriage is intended to give us a companion who can make us more complete and with whom we can share the deepest joys, fears, yearnings of our souls, whom we can bear children, to raise generations.

In addition, God intended it to be a loving relationship for life.

If you are contemplating marriage, choose someone who can be that kind of companion to you on life’s journey. And if you are married, nurture carefully your heart-to-heart relationship with the one our Creator God gave unto you.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 23 Complete Jewish Bible

23 ⁽⁰⁾A psalm of David:

⁵You prepare a table for me,
even as my enemies watch;
you anoint my head with oil
from an overflowing cup.

⁶Goodness and grace will pursue me
every day of my life;
and I will live in the house of Adonai
for years and years to come.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Christian’s in Submission: Wives to Husbands and Husbands to Wives: As Jesus Christ submitted to His Father. Ephesians 5:22-24

Ephesians 5:22-24 Easy-to-Read Version

²²Wives, be willing to serve your husbands the same as the Lord. ²³A husband is the head of his wife, just as Christ is the head of the church. Christ is the Savior of the church, which is his body. ²⁴The church serves under Christ, so it is the same with you wives. You should be willing to serve your husbands in everything.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

How are we to explain, grasp, understand and teach according to the Word of God: What does God mean by being a submissive wife in a Christian marriage?

Husbands, your name is King of my House, and your punching bag is your wife?

As a prisoner serving a life sentence without parole in maximum security, a prison ball shackled to a chain shackled to both ankles on a long chain gang?

Guards constantly shouting orders in their ears and expecting instant response, immediate and perfect obedience otherwise the discipline will be swift, sure?

What happens when the guard’s expectations are not met perfectly as expected?

Tired or not? hurting or not? aggravated, frustrated or not? long day or not, the guard makes their inspection when they make their rounds and there is hell to pay when everything they expected to be done isn’t 100% up to their standards?

Husbands, soon to be husbands, is this really what we believe, what we envision we expect, understand what God meant by our marrying a “submissive” wife?

Does that really fit into the scriptural truth of what Paul writes when he wrote;

Wives, be willing to serve your husbands in everything the same as serving the Lord in everything, as Jesus Christ served the Church with everything he had. (22, 23)

Husbands, serve your wives as Jesus Christ served the Church, husbands love your wives as Jesus Christ loved the Church – Husbands, answer this query;

EXACTLY, PRECISELY, HOW MUCH DID JESUS CHRIST LOVE THE CHURCH?

Husbands, make your list, write it down, share it with your wife and share it intensely, penitently, with God, Jesus and Holy Spirit, through somber prayer.

Psalm 139:23-24 The Message

^23-24Investigate my life, O God,
    find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
    get a clear picture of what I’m about;
See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
    then guide me on the road to eternal life.

God, thoroughly investigate my life!

Find out everything about me!

Cross examine me in your courts of judgement, put me in the witness stand the same way I put my wife into my “perfect expectations” in full prison regalia!”

Test me as I am right now, get a clear authentic picture of what I am all about!

See for yourself whether my vision of my marriage with my wife is authentically by the standards, examples you set, when you yourself gave upon the Cross, all of your life blood, all of your spirit, bearing all of my grievous sins on your life!

Jesus, examine my marriage, let me see for myself, what you see coming from me and my unyielding, my unyielding committed love for my wife in all things.

then, by your mercy alone, remember me when you come into your kingdom or look straight into my eyes as you looked into Peter’s eyes that day he betrayed you to either declare to me “begone, I knew you not” or “repent, forgiveness.”

John 21:15-17 Amplified Bible

The Love Motivation

¹⁵So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these [others do—with total commitment and devotion]?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I ^[a]love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Feed My lambs.” ¹⁶Again He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with total commitment and devotion]?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” ¹⁷He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with a deep, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend]?” Peter was grieved that He asked him the third time, “Do you [really] ^[b]love Me [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend]?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

Husbands, get a secure grip on yourselves, your wives, your God, your Savior.

Proverbs 27:17 Complete Jewish Bible

¹⁷Just as iron sharpens iron,
a person sharpens the character of his friend.

A submissive wife in a Christian marriage is a supportive wife. You work together with your spouse, and respect and support him in your marriage.

Within a Christian marriage, a wife freely expresses her thoughts, trusting her husband’s response will lovingly support her, look out after her best interests.”

Husbands, love honor and cherish and serve and sacrifice yourselves, obey your wives, as Jesus Christ loved, honored, cherished and served, and sacrificed for the church, his bride, with his authentic, maximum obedience unto his Father.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 45 The Message

45 My heart bursts its banks,
spilling beauty and goodness.
I pour it out in a poem to the king,
shaping the river into words:

* * *

^2-4“You’re the handsomest of men;
    every word from your lips is sheer grace,
    and God has blessed you, blessed you so much.
Strap your sword to your side, warrior!
    Accept praise! Accept due honor!
    Ride majestically! Ride triumphantly!
Ride on the side of truth!
    Ride for the righteous meek!

^4-5“Your instructions are glow-in-the-dark;
you shoot sharp arrows
Into enemy hearts; the king’s
foes lie down in the dust, beaten.

^6-7“Your throne is God’s throne,
    ever and always;
The scepter of your royal rule
    measures right living.
You love the right
    and hate the wrong.
And that is why God, your very own God,
    poured fragrant oil on your head,
Marking you out as king
    from among your dear companions.

^8-9“Your forest-drenched garments
    are fragrant with mountain breeze.
Chamber music—from the throne room—
    makes you want to dance.
Kings’ daughters are maids in your court,
    the Bride glittering with golden jewelry.

* * *

^10-12“Now listen, daughter, don’t miss a word:
    forget your country, put your home behind you.
Be here—the king is wild for you.
    Since he’s your lord, adore him.
Wedding gifts pour in from Tyre;
    rich guests shower you with presents.”

^13-15(Her wedding dress is dazzling,
    lined with gold by the weavers;
All her dresses and robes
    are woven with gold.
She is led to the king,
    followed by her virgin companions.
A procession of joy and laughter!
    a grand entrance to the king’s palace!)

^16-17“Set your mind now on sons—
    don’t dote on father and grandfather.
You’ll set your sons up as princes
    all over the earth.
I’ll make you famous for generations;
    you’ll be the talk of the town
    for a long, long time.”

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Exalting our God, Laboring, Sharing Reverence for Christ, Hard Laboring, Living our Submission to Christ and Each Other, Re-building the Family. Ephesians 5:21-33

Ephesians 5:21-33 Easy-to-Read Version

Wives and Husbands

²¹Be willing to serve each other out of respect for Christ.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives the same as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it. ²⁶He died to make the church holy. He used the telling of the Good News to make the church clean by washing it with water. ²⁷Christ died so that he could give the church to himself like a bride in all her beauty. He died so that the church could be holy and without fault, with no evil or sin or any other thing wrong in it.

²⁸And husbands should love their wives like that. They should love their wives as they love their own bodies. The man who loves his wife loves himself, ²⁹ because no one ever hates his own body, but feeds and takes care of it. And that is what Christ does for the church ³⁰because we are parts of his body. ³¹The Scriptures say, “That is why a man will leave his father and mother and join his wife, and the two people will become one.”^[a] ³²That secret truth is very important—I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³But each one of you must love his wife as he loves himself. And a wife must respect her husband.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Filled, Overflowing, with Wonder AND PRAISE

Psalm 145 Complete Jewish Bible

145 ⁽⁰⁾Praise. By David:

⁽¹⁾I will praise you to the heights, my God, the king;
I will bless your name forever and ever.
²Every day I will bless you;
I will praise your name forever and ever.
³Great is Adonai and greatly to be praised;
his greatness is beyond all searching out.
⁴Each generation will praise your works to the next
and proclaim your mighty acts.
⁵I will meditate on the glorious splendor
of your majesty and on the story of your wonders.
⁶People will speak of your awesome power,
and I will tell of your great deeds.
⁷They will gush forth the fame of your abounding goodness,
and they will sing of your righteousness.
⁸Adonai is merciful and compassionate,
slow to anger and great in grace.
⁹Adonai is good to all;
his compassion rests on all his creatures.
¹⁰All your creatures will thank you, Adonai,
and your faithful servants will bless you.
¹¹They will speak of the glory of your kingship,
and they will tell about your might;
¹²to let everyone know of your mighty acts
and the glorious majesty of your kingship.
¹³Your kingship is an everlasting kingship,
your reign continues through all generations.
¹⁴Adonai supports all who fall
and lifts up all who are bent over.
¹⁵The eyes of all are looking to you;
you give them their food at the right time.
¹⁶You open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
¹⁷Adonai is righteous in all his ways,
full of grace in all he does.
¹⁸Adonai is close to all who call on him,
to all who sincerely call on him.
¹⁹He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.
²⁰Adonai protects all who love him,
but all the wicked he destroys.
²¹My mouth will proclaim the praise of Adonai;
all people will bless his holy name forever and ever.

In the beloved hymn “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” Charles Wesley describes our husband, wife, family life in God’s coming kingdom:

“Changed from glory into glory . . . we [will] cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise.”

Being, living in the presence of God, we will be so filled with wonder, love, and praise for the Lord that, in a way, we won’t be able to think of anything else.

The celebration in Psalm 145 is similar.

The psalmist is filled with praise, wonder at the beauty of God, all God’s works.

The writer sings about it in grand language.

He says he will praise God “for ever and ever . . . every day.”

He says that no one can fathom God’s greatness.

God’s majesty is described with “glorious splendor,” and God’s goodness is described as “abundant.” God is “slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,“ God is gracious and compassionate,” and all his works “tell of the glory” of his everlasting kingdom. With all the stark realization, with the senses shattering revelation of such an amazing God, no wonder the psalmist is filled with praise.

Because we, our families, have such a great and beautiful future promised to us, we can resonate with some other phrases in Wesley’s hymn as we look forward to living into God’s kingdom in hope: “Finish, then, thy new creation; pure and spotless let us be. Let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee.”

Reverence for Christ, Reverence for Each Other

Ephesians 5:6-21 Common English Bible

Be children of light

⁶Nobody should deceive you with stupid ideas. God’s anger comes down on those who are disobedient because of this kind of thing. ⁷So you shouldn’t have anything to do with them. ⁸You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, so live your life as children of light. ⁹Light produces fruit that consists of every sort of goodness, justice, and truth. ¹⁰Therefore, test everything to see what’s pleasing to the Lord, ¹¹and don’t participate in the unfruitful actions of darkness. Instead, you should reveal the truth about them. ¹²It’s embarrassing to even talk about what certain persons do in secret. ¹³But everything exposed to the light is revealed by the light. ¹⁴Everything that is revealed by the light is light. Therefore, it says, Wake up, sleeper!^[a] Get up from the dead,^[b] and Christ will shine on you.^[c]

Be filled with the Spirit

¹⁵So be careful to live your life wisely, not foolishly. ¹⁶Take advantage of every opportunity because these are evil times. ¹⁷Because of this, don’t be ignorant, but understand the Lord’s will. ¹⁸Don’t get drunk on wine, which produces depravity. Instead, be filled with the Spirit in the following ways: ¹⁹speak to each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; sing and make music to the Lord in your hearts; ²⁰always give thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; ²¹and submit to each other out of respect for Christ.

People revere and people submit to one another for many various reasons—on the basis of politics or social structures, or even on the basis of pragmatism.

Sometimes it’s much easier (and certainly nicer!) just to submit to people than it is to take the risk of seeming offensive, impolite, rude or confrontational.

None of these reasons, however, are the #1 motivating factors for Christian submission. Instead, the distinguishing feature of our submission to one another should be that submission is done “out of reverence for Christ.”

Bowing our knees to Jesus keeps us from being preoccupied with ourselves.

Reverence for Christ doesn’t only pull us away from ourselves; it pulls us toward Jesus.

In Him we see how to heed the call of submission, for it was Jesus Himself who taught, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant … even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, (Mark 10:45) and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26, 28).

He not only said those words but lived them.

Consider, for example, Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet in John 13.

As John records,

“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet” (John 13:3-5).

What was happening here?

Nothing less than the submission of God the Son to God the Father.

He who came from God and is God was making Himself nothing by “taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7).

Jesus came to do not His own will but His Father’s (John 6:38).

As a result, He accepted hardship. He was isolated and ill-treated.

He endured malice, misunderstanding, and death.

Jesus was broken under the weight of our sin in order that our broken lives may be repaired and transformed. It was He who came to die on a cross, submitting Himself to the will of the Father, in order that He might provide a ransom for all who are humble enough to bow down and say, “That is the very #1 Savior I need.”

Philippians 2:1-16 Common English Bible

Imitate Christ

2 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love, any sharing in the Spirit, any sympathy, ²complete my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, being united, and agreeing with each other. ³Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. ⁴Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others. ⁵Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus:

⁶Though he was in the form of God,
        he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.
⁷But he emptied himself
        by taking the form of a slave
        and by becoming like human beings.
When he found himself in the form of a human,
⁸        he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
        even death on a cross.
⁹Therefore, God highly honored him
        and gave him a name above all names,
¹⁰    so that at the name of Jesus everyone
        in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow
¹¹        and every tongue confess
            that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Carry out your salvation

¹²Therefore, my loved ones, just as you always obey me, not just when I am present but now even more while I am away, carry out your own salvation with fear and trembling. ¹³God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out his good purposes. ¹⁴Do everything without grumbling and arguing ¹⁵so that you may be blameless and pure, innocent children of God surrounded by people who are crooked and corrupt. Among these people you shine like stars in the world ¹⁶because you hold on to the word of life. This will allow me to say on the day of Christ that I haven’t run for nothing or worked for nothing.

When we consider Christ as He truly is, we cannot but be moved to revere Him.

Who else would we exalt, honor, respect and love more than the divine second Person of the Trinity, who was willing to fully submit Himself even unto death in obedience to His Father and for the good of His people? Philippians 2:1-16

And when we honor, revere, submit to Christ, we are ready to have the same attitude as Christ: one that does not grasp for social, political prominence or strive for authority or stand on our rights, but one that obeys God by submitting our own husband, wife, children interests to those of our brothers and sisters.

There are many reasons why we as a family may choose to submit to another (and many more reasons why we may choose not to do so). But let this be true of you: that you submit yourself to others in your church out of reverence for Christ, who submitted to His Father and, in doing so, became your only Savior.

Laboring, Submitting, Re-Building A Strong Family

Galatians 5:18-26 Common English Bible

¹⁸But if you are being led by the Spirit, you aren’t under the Law. ¹⁹The actions that are produced by selfish motives are obvious, since they include sexual immorality, moral corruption, doing whatever feels good, ²⁰idolatry, drug use and casting spells, hate, fighting, obsession, losing your temper, competitive opposition, conflict, selfishness, group rivalry, ²¹jealousy, drunkenness, partying, and other things like that. I warn you as I have already warned you, that those who do these kinds of things won’t inherit God’s kingdom.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the self with its passions and its desires.

²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit. ²⁶Let’s not become arrogant, make each other angry, or be jealous of each other.

One of the closest things to the heart of God is the family. God created the family to be in relationship with him. God created the family to be in service of him. God created the family to mentor future generations of followers.

Family start with a term called marriage. A marriage is the institution of God. Whom God has brought together let no man asunder.

In a world with so much suffering, happy families are harder and harder to find. Perhaps you came from a broken family—

A family’s health and happiness can be broken by alcoholism, physical abuse, sexual abuse—even by wrong ideas about child-rearing. But broken families can be rebuilt, and Scripture provides a blueprint to show how this can be done!

1. Rebuild your family with Love: (Ephesians.5:21-26, 6:1).

Love is one of the impotent criteria lacking in families today.

Most of the young couple who were in love for couple of years are broken because of the lacking of love.

Galatians. 5:22: The First fruit of all is “LOVE”.

IN Greek there are 3 types of Love

1. Eros: This is a selfish kind of love.

2. Agape: This is a special term which represents the divine-love

3. Philos: This is a unique kind of love like the one you have for a companion or pal. It refers to loving one another just like your brother or sister.

2. Rebuild your family with your Time.

In recent years there seem to have been a breakdown in families …. families sitting down to dinner, praying, sharing meals and conversation…and spending quality time together. In my home, for example, due to different work schedules and other activities,

ILLUSTRATION:

SON: “Daddy, may I ask you a question?”

DAD: “Yeah sure, what is it?”

SON: “Daddy, how much do you make an hour?”

DAD: “That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?”

SON: “I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?”

DAD: “If you must know, I make $100 an hour.”

SON: “Oh! (With his head down).

SON: “Daddy, may I please borrow $50?”

The father was furious.

DAD: “If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work hard every day for such this childish behavior.”

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think:

Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $ 50 and he really didn’t ask for money very often.

The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door.

DAD: “Are you asleep, son?”

SON: “No daddy, I’m awake”.

DAD: “I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier. It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the $50 you asked for.”

The little boy sat straight up, smiling.

SON: “Oh, thank you daddy!”

Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.

The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

DAD: “Why do you want more money if you already have some?”

SON: “Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do. “Daddy, I have $100 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.” The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.

It’s just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life.

We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.

Do remember to share that $100 worth of your time with someone you love?

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family and friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family.

Some things are more important.

3. Rebuild your family with Christian ethics: (Joshua 24:15)

“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

The right place to build a life and a family is with Jesus Christ.

So before you focus on building a happy and healthy home, you need to give your heart and life to Jesus.

The family life is not man centered but God centered.

Marriage is one of the greatest gifts God ever gave to humanity.

But, it is truly beautiful when it is operates like God intended it to.

God and His Word must come first. Biblical ethics shows how the man and women in Christ must live in the presence of God and in the power of the Spirit.

May your families be once again be rebuilt with

1. with your Love

2. with your Time

3. with Christian Ethics

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

A very familiar exchange in our household …

“Why don’t you throw away those old pants?” my wife said.

“They’re stained and frayed around the cuffs. They make you look sloppy.”

I bristled at her suggestion. It pushed my “contrary button,” as we say in our family. I dug in both my heels and got stubborn: “Yeah, but they’re my most comfortable pants. Who cares how they look?”

I’ve found that a lot of people have a “contrary button.”

If we don’t like someone’s idea, even if their suggestion is reasonably, politely, and mildly expressed, hardcore hard hearted, rebelliousness stirs in our heart.

Submission calls for humility, but we will often choose to be stubborn rather than submit. Psalm 32:9 counsels us, “Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle.”

Why does Paul say, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ”?

Surely it is because Christ, though being fully God, “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:7).

He served his disciples by washing their feet (John 13).

And he died the death of a criminal—for us.

If our Lord humbled himself and submitted to death on a cross, why do I or my wife feel we should be boss all the time, always in control and getting my way?

Let’s learn submissiveness from him.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 139 The Message

139 ^1-6God, investigate my life;
    get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you;
    even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
    I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say
    before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you’re there,
    then up ahead and you’re there, too—
    your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
    I can’t take it all in!

^7-12Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
    to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
    If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
    to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
    you’re already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
    At night I’m immersed in the light!”
It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
    night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.

^13-16Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
    you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
    I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
    you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
    all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
    before I’d even lived one day.

^17-22Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
    God, I’ll never comprehend them!
I couldn’t even begin to count them—
    any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
    And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!
And you murderers—out of here!—
    all the men and women who belittle you, God,
    infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
See how I hate those who hate you, God,
    see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;
I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.
    Your enemies are my enemies!

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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The ‘Church’ is covenanted to be a witness: When it comes to miracles, God labors in His own Way! Acts 1:1-11

Acts 1:1-11 Amplified Bible

Introduction

1 The first ^[a]account I made, Theophilus, was [a continuous report] about all the things that Jesus began to do and to ^[b]teach ²until the day when He ascended to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given instruction to the apostles (special messengers) whom He had chosen. ³To these [men] He also showed Himself alive after His suffering [in Gethsemane and on the cross], by [a series of] many infallible proofs and unquestionable demonstrations, appearing to them over a period of forty days and talking to them about the things concerning the kingdom of God. ⁴While being together and eating with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Of which,” He said, “you have heard Me speak. ⁵For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized and empowered and united with the Holy Spirit, not long from now.”

⁶So when they had come together, they asked Him repeatedly, “Lord, are You at this time reestablishing the kingdom and restoring it to Israel?” ⁷He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. ⁸But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”

The Ascension

⁹And after He said these things, He was caught up as they looked on, and a cloud took Him up out of their sight. ¹⁰While they were looking intently into the sky as He was going, two men in white clothing suddenly stood beside them, ¹¹who said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This [same] Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will return in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Some thirty plus years ago, shortly after I was discharged out of the Army, I was subpoenaed by the Army Judge Advocate General to temporarily return to active duty to serve as a witness on a legal matter. The lawyers determined to make sure that my memories were clear and that the timeline of events was accurate.

On the witness stand, they told me to testify everything about the situation that I could; they would decide which details were important, which ones weren’t.

It is significant that Jesus, before he ascended to heaven, commissioned his followers with these covenant words: “You will be my witnesses. . . .” We, being the Body of Christ, the church, serve as witnesses to Jesus, Lord of the universe.

I don’t know about you, but this feels like a daunting task, especially when Jesus says that our witness begins where we are and extends to the ends of the earth.

Acts 1:8 Amplified Bible

⁸But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all of Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”

Do I have what it takes to be that kind of witness?

Thankfully, we do not do this alone.

As Jesus commissions us, he promises the gift of his Holy Spirit.

He also commissions us, his followers, his church, as a unified community. This is our task, together.

This month, let’s read scripture, take time explore how to bear witness to Jesus.

In my daily writing of this blog, I read examples of faithful witness every day.

The Holy Spirit is alive and well, empowering God’s church around the world!

I look forward to exploring and sharing with you what mission looks like in our lives today.

When it Comes to Miracles, God Does it His Way

John 5:1-9Amplified Bible

The Healing at Bethesda

5 Later on there was a Jewish feast (festival), and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

²Now in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, there is a ^[a]pool, which is called in Hebrew (Jewish Aramaic) Bethesda, having five porticoes (alcoves, colonnades). ³In these porticoes lay a great number of people who were sick, blind, lame, withered, ^[b][waiting for the stirring of the water; ⁴for an angel of the Lord went down into the pool at appointed seasons and stirred up the water; the first one to go in after the water was stirred was healed of his disease.] ⁵There was a certain man there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶When Jesus noticed him lying there [helpless], knowing that he had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to get well?” ⁷The invalid answered, “Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am coming [to get into it myself], someone else steps down ahead of me.” ⁸Jesus said to him, “Get up; pick up your pallet and walk.” ⁹Immediately the man was healed and recovered his strength, and ^[c]picked up his pallet and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath.

I remember when I was growing up, there was a lot more work, competition, between Burger King and McDonalds than there seems to be these 2024 days.

And as you may remember, the truly brilliant marketing slogan for Burger King was, “Have it your way at Burger King!” You could custom order your burger with the pickles or without the pickles, with the ketchup and onions or without, cheese or no cheese – just any old way you wanted it. And the implied message to us was, at McDonalds, you’ll get a cookie-cutter, assembly line burger, but at Burger King, we will create your own perfect burger for the way you want it.

What was so novel an idea back then has become commonplace now.

We have personalized and customized everything.

We can order custom made cars with all the bells, and none of the whistles we want. We customize our workout plan for the type of body we desire, and our diet plan to complement our individual health profile or nutritional philosophy.

We each customize our social media and news feeds to hear only our favorite commentators and create personalized watchlists to see favorite TV shows and movies at any time of day or night we like.

It’s interesting then, that the Church seems too often, to squeeze God in a box.

We tend to think when He stated that He never changes (Malachi 3:6), that means He always operates in exactly the same way. But I have great news!

God was not, is not, never will be, an assembly line or cookie-cutter God.

God’s character never changes, but His actions, His works, His labors, are all 100% unique and custom made, perfect for each individual and situation.

That means, regardless of how we may presume He will answer our prayers, God doesn’t necessarily deliver miracles our way, but rather He does it His way!

One of the most interesting, and unusual miracles Jesus did is found in John 5.

John 5:1-10 Complete Jewish Bible

5 After this, there was a Judean festival; and Yeshua went up to Yerushalayim. ²In Yerushalayim, by the Sheep Gate, is a pool called in Aramaic, Beit-Zata, ³in which lay a crowd of invalids — blind, lame, crippled. ^4 [a] ⁵One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶Yeshua, seeing this man and knowing that he had been there a long time, said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷The sick man answered, “I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I’m trying to get there, someone goes in ahead of me.” ⁸Yeshua said to him, “Get up, pick up your mat and walk!” ⁹ Immediately the man was healed, and he picked up his mat and walked.

Now that day was Shabbat, ¹⁰so the Judeans said to the man who had been healed, “It’s Shabbat! It’s against Torah for you to carry your mat!”

What Is the Pool of Bethesda?

The text says this pool was by the Sheep Gate, which was located next to the Temple in Jerusalem.

And we are told that the name of the pool was Bethesda, which means House of Mercy.

But the place was originally named the Virgin’s Well when priests discovered a hot spring adjacent to the Temple. As a result, they dug out a huge pool around the opening fed by this hot spring to create, in essence, a bible land Jacuzzi.

And because the priesthood in those days was an exclusive, high-ranking social group who hobnobbed with society’s rich and famous, they built walls around the pool to make it an exclusive hangout for the elite.

Inside was ornate and beautiful; the pool and pavement were overlaid with the most expensive and precious marble. And because the Mediterranean sun was so hot, they built a porch or a colonnade around the pool for shade.

This place was so popular that they eventually built four more breathtakingly beautiful porches around the pool. They were supported by marble columns, and filled with comfortable furnishings. But by the time Jesus walked through, the place had changed dramatically.

The pool had been abandoned by top society, and had become a place for the down and out, especially those in need of healing. It was no longer beautiful and ornate but run down and dilapidated. What happened? The hot spring had dried up, the rich moved on, and the sick moved in.

John 5:4 is somewhat of a mystery, and many Bible translations have removed it to a footnote.

Some believe that it was not part of the original manuscript but was added at a later date for the purposes of clarity.

What I find interesting is that Bethesda, or House of Mercy, was the name given to it by the sick and infirmed, not by the rich and famous (called Virgin’s Well).

⁴for an angel of the Lord went down into the pool at appointed seasons and stirred up the water; the first one to go in after the water was stirred was healed of his disease.]

Now the reason why this verse would have been added for clarity is because this was what the sick people who gathered there actually believed and had faith in.

And it was apparently true that from time to time, without warning, the waters of the pool would begin to be violently shaken. Furthermore, as the story goes, the first one in was healed of whatever affliction they had.

And so the sick would wait and watch, hoping that they would be lucky enough to be the first into the pool and finally receive a miracle.

But even though their odds were poor they would be the one healed, people still waited.

In their minds, this was the only way they thought God would work to heal them.

The paralytic in John 5 also had this belief.

He had been working his plan for 38 years, staying firm in faith, praying, waiting for his miracle. His continued hopefulness after so many years of disappointment is both admirable and commendable for its perseverance.

But as I examine this man’s story, the thing that strikes me most is that I’m glad God is not limited by our presumptions, but delivers miracles His way.

God’s Way Is Better Than Our Way, So Leave it Up to Him

John 5:7 Amplified Bible

⁷The invalid answered, “Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am coming [to get into it myself], someone else steps down ahead of me.”

Clearly, this man’s plan was flawed from the beginning: be the first one among hundreds into the pool when the water is stirred. Sounds a bit like a man is hoping for a lottery win to fix an imminent financial crisis. And it only gets far worse.

Without help, his plan was doomed to fail. But when we ourselves need a miracle from God, we usually don’t have much of a better plan than his.

How often do we come to God with our ideas, our programs, our presumptions, of how God should fix things in our lives?

How often do we go beyond asking God to intervene, and advise Him how to proceed?

How many years are we willing to wait for God, Jesus, Holy Spirit to reveal his answer – thirty eight years … when we can probably arrive at a better plan?

Okay God, here is how you can fix my financial problems. I come home and there is a check waiting for me for a million dollars in the mailbox from Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes!

And God, here is how you can give me a marriage miracle. Today when my spouse comes home from work, you will have them fall down at my feet, start weeping uncontrollably, and apologize for everything they’ve ever done wrong (even though I will never confess to anyone that I am just as responsible for all our problems).

It never ceases to amaze me how we often have the “how” figured out for God, and concoct a thoroughly thought out master plan for Him to follow. Our faith should never rest in how God does a miracle, but simply on He will make a way.

And God’s way is always better than we can imagine!

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9).

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20).

Jesus was not interested in the man’s plan, only his faith. So He asked:

“Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:6).

I believe what He was really asking the man was:

Son, what do you want? You can have it right now. Regardless of the water, or friends, or luck. I’m here, the Living Water, and I see your faith. Trust Me, this is a better plan.

If we also would let God figure out all the details for our miracle, we will discover He has a much better plan for our lives as well (Jeremiah 29:11).

God’s Way Is Better Because it Also Makes Us Better!

“Do you want to be made well? “

Isn’t that an interesting question to ask someone who had been lame for 38 years? But God often begins His miracles with asking us obvious questions.

“How many loaves of bread do you have?” was the catalyst to the feeding of 4,000 people (Matthew 15:34).

“Who touched me?” was the catalyst to the miracle healing of the woman with the issue of blood (Luke 8:45).

“What do you have in your house?” was the beginning of a supernatural multiplication of oil for financial provision (2 Kings 4:2).

Pay attention when God asks you a question; He may be setting you up for a miracle. But moreover, God’s questions can even make us a better Christian when they cause us to pause and evaluate our priorities, motives and methods.

In the moment the question, do you want to be made well, is asked. it forced the man to consider whether or not he was truly up to the challenge of changing his priorities. Was he willing to replace faith in his plan, with faith in God’s plan?

Most people want and pray for at least some of the following things: money, fewer hassles, more time, more choices, health and long life, to be loved, to make a difference, or get a fresh start.

It’s not a bad list, nor would God necessarily disapprove.

But when God asks us the question, what do you want, He’s ultimately signing a blank check asking, confronting us Are we willing to put me at the top of that list?

If you put God first in your priorities, He withholds no good thing:

Matthew 6:25-34 Amplified Bible

The Cure for Anxiety

²⁵“Therefore I tell you, stop being worried or anxious (perpetually uneasy, distracted) about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, as to what you will wear. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow [seed] nor reap [the harvest] nor gather [the crops] into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they? ²⁷And who of you by worrying can add one ^[a]hour to [the length of] his life? ²⁸And why are you worried about clothes? See how the lilies and wildflowers of the field grow; they do not labor nor do they spin [wool to make clothing], ²⁹yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory and splendor dressed himself like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive and green today and tomorrow is [cut and] thrown [as fuel] into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! ³¹Therefore do not worry or be anxious (perpetually uneasy, distracted), saying, ‘What are we going to eat?’ or ‘What are we going to drink?’ or ‘What are we going to wear?’ ³²For the [pagan] Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; [but do not worry,] for your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.

³⁴“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Philippians 4:10-14 Amplified Bible

God’s Provisions

¹⁰I rejoiced greatly in the Lord, that now at last you have renewed your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned about me before, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹Not that I speak from [any personal] need, for I have learned to be content [and self-sufficient through Christ, satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or uneasy] regardless of my circumstances. ¹²I know how to get along and live humbly [in difficult times], and I also know how to enjoy abundance and live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret [of facing life], whether well-fed or going hungry, whether having an abundance or being in need. ¹³I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.] ¹⁴Nevertheless, it was right of you to share [with me] in my difficulties.

God’s questions also cause us to evaluate our motives. That is, why do you want to be made well? God is less concerned with what we want, and more concerned with why we want it. And it’s the why that often determines the outcome.

“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3).

And God’s questions will also convict us and cause us to check our methods.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be financially successful, but scamming people is not the right method. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting to win a sports competition, but cheating is the wrong method.

When God asks us a question, He is setting us up not only to receive our miracle by His plan, but also for an internal adjustment to bring us more in alignment with God’s character and His will.

Are you asking God for a miracle today? Don’t try to tell Him how to do it. Let God do it His way. He’ll come up with a customized, personalized miracle better than anything we could ask for or imagine, and it makes us better to boot!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Jesus, as we explore what it means to be your witnesses, we want to open our hearts to your call. Fill us with your Spirit teach us how we can grow as witnesses for you. Amen.

Psalm 103 Complete Jewish Bible

103 ⁽⁰⁾By David:

⁽¹⁾Bless Adonai, my soul!
Everything in me, bless his holy name!
²Bless Adonai, my soul,
and forget none of his benefits!

³He forgives all your offenses,
he heals all your diseases,
⁴he redeems your life from the pit,
he surrounds you with grace and compassion,
⁵he contents you with good as long as you live,
so that your youth is renewed like an eagle’s.

⁶Adonai brings vindication and justice
to all who are oppressed.
⁷He made his ways known to Moshe,
his mighty deeds to the people of Isra’el.
⁸Adonai is merciful and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in grace.
⁹He will not always accuse,
he will not keep his anger forever.
¹⁰He has not treated us as our sins deserve
or paid us back for our offenses,
¹¹because his mercy toward those who fear him
is as far above earth as heaven.
¹²He has removed our sins from us
as far as the east is from the west.

¹³Just as a father has compassion on his children,
Adonai has compassion on those who fear him.
¹⁴For he understands how we are made,
he remembers that we are dust.
¹⁵Yes, a human being’s days are like grass,
he sprouts like a flower in the countryside —
¹⁶but when the wind sweeps over, it’s gone;
and its place knows it no more.
¹⁷But the mercy of Adonai on those who fear him
is from eternity past to eternity future,
and his righteousness extends
to his children’s children,
¹⁸provided they keep his covenant
and remember to follow his precepts.

¹⁹Adonai has established his throne in heaven;
his kingly power rules everything.
²⁰Bless Adonai, you angels of his,
you mighty warriors who obey his word,
who carry out his orders!
²¹Bless Adonai, all his troops,
who serve him and do what he wants!
²²Bless Adonai, all his works,
in every place where he rules!
Bless Adonai, my soul!

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Laboring, Working: God Honoring, God Working Attitudes; Serving God With Excellence. Colossians 3:22-25

Colossians 3:22-25 The Message

^22-25Servants, do what you’re told by your earthly masters. And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t cover up bad work.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

God Working Attitude

God’s Attitude About Work

The Bible says,

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism. – Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.” (Colossians 3:23 – 4:1)

I would propose to you, with the coming of Labor Day, laboring, working as doing our work unto Christ will make you and I a living witness for the Lord that surpasses the average wage earner, that causes people to take note of the life we live in obedience to the written Word of God. The heart of the average employee is more influenced by a limited world view rather than having the mind of Christ, as the Bible tells you and me to have. (1 Corinthians 2:10-16)

There are many passages of Scripture that specifically speak about work, with a key truth being, “Six days you shall labor and do your work.” (Exodus 20:9)

This command comes directly from God who sets the model example before us as being a worker.

The Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

By the end of the sixth day He made the sun and moon and stars, Adam and Eve, and all the living creatures, everything on this earth for Him and us to enjoy.

“And God saw that is was all good.” (Genesis 1:25)

There is nothing more than any great biker would love to do than take a long vacation, making the long motorcycle ride – touring and seeing everything God has created. That is a whole lot of riding when you consider the whole planet.

Surface:
Total Surface Area: about 509 600 000 square km (197 000 000 square miles).
Area of land: 148 326 000 km² (57 268 900 square miles), this are 29% of the total surface of Planet Earth.
Area of water: 361 740 000 km² (139 668 500 square miles), this are 71% of the total surface of the Earth.
97 percent is salt water and only 3 percent is fresh water. https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/earth.htm#:~:text=Area%20of%20land%3A%20148%20326,3%20percent%20is%20fresh%20water.

Imagine, if every last person were a specialist in landscaping, they could never get done over ten billion lifetimes what God has created, especially in six days.

Even the best doctors and vets cannot create human beings or animals.

No matter how smart and gifted they are, they cannot sustain life for eternity.

When all is said that can be said, all is done that will be done, this earth as we know it will be burned up. God will create a new heaven and a new earth. (Isaiah 65:17; Revelation 21:1)

The Book of Psalms says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” (Psalm 19:1)

Jesus said, “My Father is always at His work to this very day…” (John 5:17)

Dr. Charles Mayo of the famous Mayo Clinic once said, “There is no fun like work.” The writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes wrote, “…there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot…” (Ecclesiastes 3:22)

The key steps to doing our Labor As Unto Christ is to have a thankful enjoyment of God’s gifts, seeing your job as a discharge from God, knowing God is going to bring all things under His judgment, (Ecclesiastes 11:9) and not seeing your job as 8 hours of drudgery and money seeking opportunity. (Ecclesiastes 5:10-17)

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 Complete Jewish Bible

¹³Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God, and keep his mitzvot; this is what being human is all about. ¹⁴For God will bring to judgment everything we do, including every secret, whether good or bad.

[Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God, and keep his mitzvot; this is what being human is all about.]

The book of Exodus reminds us that it is the Lord who gives different abilities to achieve things and perform certain tasks. (Exodus 31:3)

The writer of the Book of Thessalonians tells us, “if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” (2 Thessalonians 3:10)

According to the ancient Psalmist … God is always at work …

Psalm 111 Complete Jewish Bible

111 Halleluyah!

I will wholeheartedly give thanks to Adonai
in the council of the upright and in the assembly.
²The deeds of Adonai are great,
greatly desired by all who enjoy them.
³His work is full of majesty and splendor,
and his righteousness continues forever.
⁴He has gained renown for his wonders.
Adonai is merciful and compassionate.
⁵He gives food to those who fear him.
He remembers his covenant forever.
⁶He shows his people how powerfully he works
by giving them the nations as their heritage.
⁷The works of his hands are truth and justice;
all his precepts can be trusted.
⁸They have been established forever and ever,
to be carried out truly and honestly.
⁹He sent redemption to his people
and decreed that his covenant should last forever.
His name is holy and fearsome —
¹⁰the first and foremost point of wisdom is the fear of Adonai;
all those living by it gain good common sense.
His praise stands forever.

According to Jesus Christ – God is always at His work.

John 14:10-14 Complete Jewish Bible

¹⁰Don’t you believe that I am united with the Father, and the Father united with me? What I am telling you, I am not saying on my own initiative; the Father living in me is doing his own works. ¹¹Trust me, that I am united with the Father, and the Father united with me. But if you can’t, then trust because of the works themselves. ¹²Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever trusts in me will also do the works I do! Indeed, he will do greater ones, because I am going to the Father. ¹³In fact, whatever you ask for in my name, I will do; so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴If you ask me for something in my name, I will do it.

Jesus said, “He will do greater works, …”

With implicit trust in God Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the right heart reflection, the right focused, the right oriented spiritual perspective, we all should always prayerfully consider all we do as doing it for the approval of God. 1 Corinthians 15:56-58

1 Corinthians 15:56-58 Complete Jewish Bible

⁵⁶The sting of death is sin; and sin draws its power from the Torah; ⁵⁷but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah!

⁵⁸So, my dear brothers, stand firm and immovable, always doing the Lord’s work as vigorously as you can, knowing that united with the Lord your efforts are not in vain.

Work: Serving God With Excellence

Colossians 3:23-24 Amplified Bible

²³Whatever you do [whatever your task may be], work from the soul [that is, put in your very best effort], as [something done] for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴knowing [with all certainty] that it is from the Lord [not from men] that you will receive the inheritance which is your [greatest] reward. It is the Lord Christ whom you [actually] serve.

Work is not merely a means of earning a living; it is an opportunity to serve God with excellence. Whether it’s in our job or career, our studies, or with our daily chores and tasks, we can each bring glory to God by working with diligence and wholeheartedness.

Our attitude toward work reflects our devotion to Christ. When we view our labor as an offering to the Lord, even mundane tasks take on significance.

Every effort made with love and dedication is an act of worship.

God calls us, the church, to work for him and not for human approval.

We find our ultimate reward in him.

Matthew 9:35-38 Complete Jewish Bible

³⁵Yeshua went about all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and weakness. ³⁶When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harried and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then he said to his talmidim, “The harvest is rich, but the workers are few. ³⁸Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out workers to gather in his harvest.”

Knowing that God sees everyone and knows everything and values all of our efforts, we yet serve with a steadfast joy and an immovable sense of purpose.

As we take Labor day as an extra day of rest or as an extended weekend, may our work ethic be characterized by integrity and humility. Whether we are enjoying success or facing challenges or grilling ourselves and family a BBQ, we can keep 100%, our eyes fixed on the One we serve, knowing that our labor is not in vain.

And as we go about celebrating the day our Lord God gave us, our “day of labor” our harvest work, our work supporting our families, move each day as working for the Lord, become a mirror reflection of God’s love and a light in this world.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God, the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 8 Complete Jewish Bible

8 ⁽⁰⁾For the leader. On the gittit. A psalm of David:

^2 (1)Adonai! Our Lord! How glorious
is your name throughout the earth!
The fame of your majesty
spreads even above the heavens!

^3 (2)From the mouths of babies and infants at the breast
you established strength because of your foes,
in order that you might silence
the enemy and the avenger.

^10 (9)Adonai! Our Lord! How glorious
is your name throughout the earth!

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Romans 7:14-20 Easy-to-Read Version

The War Inside Us

I Need Thee Every Hour

1. God’s Grace Is Sufficient to Cover Sin

2. Grace Gives Us Access to the King of Kings

Exodus 33:17-23 Complete Jewish Bible

3. Salvation Is a Gracious Gift to Us

4. By Grace God Shows Us How to Live Upright Lives

Despite All My Faults and Failures, I Still Belong to Jesus

Psalm 46 Complete Jewish Bible

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Matthew 6:9-13 Complete Jewish Bible

The Love of Christ

God, Our Father, Who Art in Heaven — Heaven on Earth

Five Thousand Fed

The Ingathering

Psalm 8 Complete Jewish Bible

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Proverbs 13:15-20 Complete Jewish Bible

Faith, Kingdom and Culture – on a Collision Course

Psalm 1 Complete Jewish Bible

Book I: Psalms 1–41

Proverbs 12:26 Complete Jewish Bible

The Days are Surely Coming or Have Now Arrived

נ (Nun)

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Titus 2:3-5 Amplified Bible

A God-Filled Life

John 8:42-47 GOD’S WORD Translation

TEACH WHAT ACCORDS WITH SOUND DOCTRINE

BELIEF AND BEHAVIOUR

GOOD WORKS

TRAINING

Hebrews 12:1-2 Amplified Bible

Jesus, the Example

The Apostles’ Teaching

Hebrews 4:12-13 Amplified Bible

Psalm 19 Complete Jewish Bible

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Ephesians 5:25-28 The Message

A Word to Husbands and Future Husbands

Ephesians 5:25-30 New American Standard Bible 1995

Philippians 1:27-30 New American Standard Bible 1995

Philippians 2:5-11 New American Standard Bible 1995

From the Beginning; for God, Marriage is a Holy, Sacred Union

Ephesians 5:25-33 Amplified Bible

Matthew 5:13-16 Amplified Bible

Disciples and the World

Psalm 84 Complete Jewish Bible

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Genesis 2:19-24 Complete Jewish Bible

Genesis 2:20 Complete Jewish Bible

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Complete Jewish Bible

Why God Made Marriage

Genesis 2:15-18 Complete Jewish Bible

Psalm 23 Complete Jewish Bible

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Ephesians 5:22-24 Easy-to-Read Version

The Love Motivation

Proverbs 27:17 Complete Jewish Bible

Psalm 45 The Message

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Ephesians 5:21-33 Easy-to-Read Version

Wives and Husbands

Filled, Overflowing, with Wonder AND PRAISE

Psalm 145 Complete Jewish Bible

Reverence for Christ, Reverence for Each Other

Ephesians 5:6-21 Common English Bible

Be children of light

Be filled with the Spirit

Philippians 2:1-16 Common English Bible

Imitate Christ

Carry out your salvation

Laboring, Submitting, Re-Building A Strong Family

Galatians 5:18-26 Common English Bible

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Psalm 139 The Message

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Acts 1:1-11 Amplified Bible

Introduction