Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. 1 Thes 5:11
I am going to be taking up donations for socks for the homeless and needy. Socks are one of the biggest needs during this time of year. I will be accepting the donations for new socks until December 20th with plans to distribute them the week of Christmas to those who are in need. If you would like any more details about this, let me know.
email: whittmadden@gmail.com
I need these turned in by December 20th
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way.Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the LORD upholds him with His hand.
Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him
Last Chapter’s Key Thought: Examine my obsession with Christ.
Key Thought for This Chapter: Examine my obedience to Christ.
For Your Mind
1. Write down the main point of the chapter.
2. In your opinion, what were the most “amazing” testimony and the most “surprising” testimony from chapter 9? Why?
3. Read 2 Corinthians 11:22-33.
a. In verse 30. Why does Paul want to boast in his weakness?
b. What can a believer learn about Paul’s obedience to Christ from his life?
For Your Heart
Pick one person from the different testimonies shared in chapter 9. Place yourself in that person’s shoes and circumstance.
Make a list of all of the things that went through that person’s mind, or things the this person may have read or heard from others on why he/she should not do what he/she felt God was calling them to do.
For Your Life
What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind? What do you want to be known for?
Challenge for this week
Think of someone in your life that you haven’t been in contact with for a while. Pray for them, and call and encourage them this week.
Last Chapter’s Key Thought: Examine my obedience to Christ.
Key Thought for This Chapter: Examine my commitment to live for Jesus.
For Your Mind
1. Write down the main point of this chapter.
2. What comes to mind when you look back on the book and study? Francis writes, “My hope and prayer is that you finish this book with hope, believing that part of your responsibility in the body of Christ is to help set the pace for the church by listening and obeying and living Christ”
3. God has challenged you to examine your relationship with God and how it is impacting the way you live your life. Our hope is that the changes you have made will not be temporary, but life-long. The Apostle Paul wanted nothing more in life than to know Jesus Christ crucified. It was the gospel that changed his life and gave him the power to live each day for the glory of God.
For Your Life
Read Romans 14:10-12. If the Lord was to take you home tonight, would you be able to say that you did not waste your life, but lived it for God’s kingdom?
For Your Heart
What are some of the truths that have made an impact upon your life through this study?
Challenge for this Week
Doing a study can present a lot of great ideas to us. Most studies, the application part will typically last for about 3 months before we start slipping into our old habits again. How can you actively apply what God has shown you through this study? How can you stay refreshed? Remember that studies only present the material, it is up to us to allow God to work and change our hearts so that we can apply what we’ve learned.
Science vs. God
“Let me explain the problem science has with Jesus Christ.”
The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.
“You’re a Christian, aren’t you, son?”
“Yes sir,” the student says.
“So you believe in God?”
“Absolutely.”
“Is God good?”
“Sure! God’s good.”
“Is God all-powerful?
Can God do anything?”
“Yes.”
“Are you good or evil?”
“The Bible says I’m evil.”
The professor grins knowingly. “Aha! The Bible!” He considers for a moment. “Here’s one for you. Let’s say there’s a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?”
“Yes sir, I would.”
“So you’re good…!”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“But why not say that? You’d help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could.. But God doesn’t.”
The student does not answer, so the professor continues. “He doesn’t, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?”
The student remains silent.
“No, you can’t, can you?” the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax.
“Let’s start again, young fella. Is God good?”
“Er.yes,” the student says.
“Is Satan good?”
The student doesn’t hesitate on this one. “No.”
“Then where does Satan come from?”
The student : “From…God…”
“That’s right. God made Satan , didn’t he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?”
“Yes, sir. “
“Evil’s everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything, correct?”
“Yes.”
“So who created evil?” The professor continued, “If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.”
Without allowing the student to answer, the professor continues: “Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?”
The student: “Yes.”
“So who created them?”
The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. “Who created them? There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized.
“Tell me,” he continues onto another student. “Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?”
The student’s voice is confident: “Yes, professor, I do.”
The old man stops pacing. “Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?”
“No sir. I’ve never seen Him”
“Then tell us if you’ve ever heard your Jesus?”
“No, sir, I have not.”
“Have you ever actually felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?”
“No, sir, I’m afraid I haven’t.”
“Yet you still believe in him?”
“Yes.”
“According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?”
“Nothing,” the student replies. “I only have my faith.”
“Yes, faith,” the professor repeats. “And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.”
The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of his own. “Professor, is there such thing as heat?”
“Yes,” the professor replies. “There’s heat.”
“And is there such a thing as cold?”
“Yes, son, there’s cold too.”
“No sir, there isn’t.”
The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain..
“You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don’t have anything called ‘cold’. We can hit up to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat.
You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.”
Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.
“What about darkness, professor.. Is there such a thing as darkness?”
“Yes,” the professor replies without hesitation. “What is night if it isn’t darkness?”
“You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it’s called darkness, isn’t it? That’s the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?”
The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. “So what point are you making, young man?”
“Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.”
The professor’s face cannot hide his surprise this time. “Flawed? Can you explain how?”
“You are working on the premise of duality,” the student explains. “You argue that there is life and then there’s death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it..”
“Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?”
” If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do”
“Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?”
The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.
“Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?”
The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided.
“To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.”
The student looks around the room.. “Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor’s brain?” The class breaks out into laughter.
“Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor’s brain, felt the professor’s brain, touched or smelled the professor’s brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir. So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?”
Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable.
Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. “I guess you’ll have to take them on faith.”
“Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,” the student continues. “Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?”
Now uncertain, the professor responds, “Of course, there is. We see it everyday. It is in the daily example of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world These manifestations are nothing else but evil.”
To this the student replied, “Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto it self. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God..
God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.”
The professor sat down.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing a study on our thought process. We are bombarded everyday with things hat can infiltrate our minds. Satan would like nothing better than to stop up our minds with the things of the world.
It time we get serious about what we allow to be absorbed. This can only happen with pursuing an intentional approach that causes us to examine our relationship with Christ.
We need to be able to recall and confess our shortcomings. This means everything. From who we talk about, what we talk about, as well as the heart we do this with. By doing this we can begin to fully receive all that is given to us through the Holy Spirit.
This can be achieved by spending more time in prayer. Yes, I said more time in Prayer. I know everyone says they don’t have a lot of extra time. That is simply not true!!!!!!! We can make time to watch our favorite TV show, enjoy our “ME” time or any another excuse we can come up with. Here is the deal, if you can live with that fact that you don’t have all that God has to offer, or that your heart is o.k. where it is at, than you can delete this now. If you choose to continue reading, hang on. I am going to pose some questions that will cause you to reflect on how radical or reckless you are willing to be. In order for us to experience a true relationship with God than we need to look at our thoughts and where they will takes.
Do lustful, unclean thoughts frequent your mind? We as men are well aware of what this question means!!!!
Are you conscious of these thoughts?
Do you have thoughts that you wouldn’t others to know?
Do your priorities line up with our calling?
WHEN AND THEY WILL, REPLACE THEM WITH A SCRIPTURE
These are just a few questions to get your wheels turning. Remember we need to saturate our minds daily with scripture this needs to become a daily habit, this is the only way we can fully over come the lies Satan tells. We need to be able to combat his lies with TRUTH!
All for now, hope you all have a Great Day!
Chad Hicks
Do not speak evil of one another, brethren.
James 4:11
Why is it so easy to point out the faults of others and gossip about them instead of encouraging them? Maybe it makes us feel better about our own shortcomings; perhaps we just enjoy hearing the “juice” about others. Whatever the reason, it is sin, yet many of us continue to do it.
One man found a way to combat this problem in his church. It was a formula he came up with that the members of the church had to apply before speaking to anyone. T.H.I.N.K.: T – is it True? H – is it Helpful? I – is it Inspiring? N – is it Necessary? K – is it Kind? If what they were about to say did not pass the above test, they were to keep their mouths shut. It worked!
Today, we need to pay attention to what we say to others. Are we gossiping and slandering or are we a source of encouragement? If we cannot honestly say we are the latter, we need to ask God to soften our heart and help us become an example of His encouraging love to those around us.
Chapter 7 and 8 Study Guides here
Last night doing our Men’s study this was a question we were presented with:
If you were stranded on a deserted island, and the only thing you had was a Bible to read, what conclusions would you come to about following Christ?
So if you were on this island, and you read this book every day, without commentaries, sermons about the chapters, or anyone else’s input, what conclusions would you have about what is required to become a follower of Christ?
That was pretty much the direction God has led me to focus on for this week. I’ve heard some people say that we shouldn’t take God’s word so literally. But I’m wondering why we aren’t. For instance, whenever I read this verse: Matthew 16: 24-25 says Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” I take that to mean that if we are to follow Christ, that we have to deny ourselves, our fleshly desires, our motives, our plans, all of the ’stuff’ we have in our lives, and follow Him without any motive other than loving Him and wanting to know Him.
We are following so much of our own plans and desires, our motivations, our goals, that most of the time we don’t even take the time to ask God if it is what He wants for us. We just do what we ‘feel’ is best, and ask Him to bless it, without ever asking Him if it is what He wants for us. We question God sometimes and wonder why it is that He hasn’t moved us from where we are at yet, but we refuse to listen to Him whenever He asks us to submit to His Will. Or even worse, we pick and choose what we are submitting to Him. Because we let Him have a lot of the bigger things, but we refuse to let go of those small things that we are holding onto.
In Sunday School we are studying a very daunting word – obedience. How can we grow if we are not obedient to Him?
I encourage everyone this week to think about the question that I started off with. If you were on that island stranded with nothing but a Bible, what would your conclusion be about how we should follow Christ? Would our churches look like they do currently? Would our worship services feel different? How would it truly affect our hearts and attitudes? If we actually lived out how Christ has called us to live based on reading the Bible and taking the Word for what it is, how much different would our lives look? Would the lost look at us any differently? Would they want what we have?
I read this from my devotional this morning from Dr Charles Stanley and wanted to share this with you.
1 Samuel 17:1-53
In confronting Goliath, David showed real courage and faith. But we see that what drove him to face the giant was righteous indignation: “For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?” (1 Sam. 17:26).David believed that someone had to wipe away from Israel the reproach caused by Goliaths insults. Since no one else would step forward, he volunteered to defend Yahweh’s name.
Today we often read that story as a battle scene where the underdog beats the giant. We can comfort ourselves that we’ll probably never have to deal with such a scenario. I love this part of the devotional : But the real story is that David stood up for God.
Given how our culture scoffs at both the Father and Jesus Christ, we as believers will certainly spend some time as David’s of this day and age. The question is whether we will turn and run or stand and fight in God’s name. This can be a number of scenarios. We can apply this with our kids, our jobs, our family and friends. We all need to be like David and stand up for God. We can do that every single day with the choices that we make, regarding how our day is spent. I think sometimes we can get in the mindset that it is just easier to let someone else stand up for God. As Christians we are all called to do this. In the world we live in today, we really can’t afford not to stand up for God.
Do you ever feel like you just can’t do it? Remember that we can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us!
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