Video Bible Lesson - Build Each Other Up By John North

1/2 Hour of God’s Power with Scott Ralls

5/8/2020

Build Each Other Up

By John North

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:11Heavenly Father, help us to sharpen our brothers and sisters like iron. May we all grow in spirit together, encouraging one another with your words. Amen.Don’t only work on your own spiritual life, also build up the spiritual lives of those around you!The Bible is full of guidance on how we can grow much faster if we share in each others’ spiritual growth. When we get together with other believers, we can play a major part in helping them walk more closely with the Lord.God wants you to learn to use your times with your brothers and sisters in Christ to encourage them spiritually, to motivate them in their times with God and in prayer, to discuss ways to more effectively share Christ with others, to serve them and help them. We miss out on so much potential growth when we only ever just “hang out” together.Hanging out can be very restorative and stress relieving. But if we simply add a relaxed spiritual discussion to our hanging out, we will leave that time together encouraged in the Lord. And if we add a brief prayer time at the end, we will deepen our spiritual relationship with each other and the Lord even more.Who will you see today that you could ask about what God is teaching them, or pray together, or share about what you got from the Word today? Ask God to use you when you get together to strengthen them spiritually.

#Jesus, #Christian, #Bible, #Salvation, #Heaven, #God, #HolySpirit

Streams in the Desert

Streams in the Desert

Walking in the midst of the fire (Daniel 3:25).

The fire did not arrest their motion; they walked in the midst of it. It was one of the streets through which they moved to their destiny. The comfort of Christ's revelation is not that it teaches emancipation from sorrow, but emancipation through sorrow.

O my God, teach me, when the shadows have gathered, that I am only in a tunnel. It is enough for me to know that it will be all right some day.

They tell me that I shall stand upon the peaks of Olivet, the heights of resurrection glory. But I want more, O my Father; I want Calvary to lead up to it. I want to know that the shadows of this world are the shades of an avenue the avenue to the house of my Father. Tell me I am only forced to climb because Thy house is on the hill! I shall receive no hurt from sorrow if I shall walk in the midst of the fire.
--George Matheson

'The road is too rough,' I said; 'It is uphill all the way; 
No flowers, but thorns instead;
And the skies over head are grey.'
But One took my hand at the entrance dim,
And sweet is the road that I walk with Him.

"The cross is too great,' I cried--
'More than the back can bear,
So rough and heavy and wide,
And nobody by to care.'
And One stooped softly and touched my hand:
'I know. I care. And I understand.'

"Then why do we fret and sigh;
Cross-bearers all we go:
But the road ends by-and-by
In the dearest place we know,
And every step in the journey we
May take in the Lord's own company.

Choosing to Believe.....Dr. Charles Stanley.....🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Choosing to Believe

Dr. Charles Stanley

John 3:1-21

Faith isn't something we can lay claim to because we were born to believing parents or have citizenship in a Christian country. Nor can we attain it by attending or even teaching Sunday school, though I've often heard such incorrect assertions. Instead, the following should be true of genuine believers.

A clear understanding of the gospel is essential for a person to believe and receive the good news of Jesus Christ. His death on the cross was the only sacrifice required to remove our sins. God offers His grace as a gift to anyone who will receive it.

A definite decision at a particular point in time serves as a sort of landmark of the heart and mind. People do not just slip into Christianity; faith in Jesus must be chosen. Believers are those who have made a deliberate decision to trust the Lord and follow in His ways.

A blessed assurance follows the clear-cut decision so that believers can be certain of their salvation. God wants confident, assured children (1 John 5:13).

A visible symbol of what happens when someone receives the Savior--namely, baptism--illustrates dying to one's old ways and rising to new life in Christ Jesus. Believers are to take this step as a public way of identifying with Him (Matt. 28:19).

A man or woman of faith chooses to surrender to Christ, embraces the Word of God, and lives fully for the Lord. True believers no longer muddle through the practices of religion out of habit, but instead worship and rejoice in a vibrant personal relationship with the Lord.

I Love the Way You’re Loving Me!

I Love the Way You’re Loving Me!
ALICIA BRUXVOORT

“LORD, show me your love, and save me as you have promised.” Psalm 119:41 (NCV)”

We were planted at the end of the driveway beside a giant mud puddle left by a cloud-burst of rain. My son’s pockets bulged with a lumpy collection of stones, and his eyes beamed with 4-year-old delight on that ordinary morning long ago.

“Watch, Mommy, watch!” He begged as he reached into his pocket and flung a rock into the filthy water. “Listen to the sound of that plop!” He squealed when the stone landed in the inky mire with a melodious plunk.

I nodded my head and clapped my hands. And he reached into his pocket for another rock.

Our little game continued with soaring stones and happy shrieks, sky-high splashes and murky splatters.

Toss. Plunk. Applaud.

Splash. Laugh. Repeat.

There was laundry to fold and toilets to scrub, but for a few moments, I perched beside that puddle and cheered for my son as if he were throwing pitches in the World Series rather than tossing rocks into a pool of mud.

“I love the way you’re loving me today, Mommy,” he said with a giddy grin.

I returned his sentiment with a smile of my own and celebrated a silent victory. For weeks, I’d been talking with our five children about the personal nature of my love.

“I love each of you equally,” I’d assured them. “But I express my love for you differently.”

I’d grown tired of their comparisons and complaints, the “no-fairs” and the “what-about-me’s?”

Just because I took my daughter out for ice cream didn’t mean she was my favorite.

Just because I rocked the baby each night didn’t mean I loved her more.

“Pay attention,” I’d challenged. “And you’ll begin to notice the special things I do to show my love for you.”

Shortly after I’d issued that challenge to my own children, I found myself sitting in a coffee shop with a handful of close friends. Eventually, our conversation turned to our relationships with the Lord.

One woman marveled at how He’d been speaking to her through dreams, while another shared about His inexplicable provision in a time of need. A third recounted how God had used a worship song to bring calm to a chronic worry.

Although these testimonies should have spurred my faith, they quietly stirred my doubts. If God loved me too, why wasn’t He loving me like that?

As I drove home that afternoon, the words I’d been repeating in my own home echoed in my mind. “I love you equally, but I express my love for you differently.”

Humbly, I realized I was missing the unique love story God was writing for me because I expected it to look like someone else’s script.

In the days to come, I asked the Holy Spirit to open my eyes to notice God’s personal pursuit of my heart.

I turned Psalm 119:41 into my daily prayer — “LORD, show me your love, and save me as you have promised.” 

As my prayer was answered, I began to pay attention to the one-of-a-kind ways God was expressing His love for me.

I took note of the way He wooed me with a blazing sunrise or wowed me with a starry sky. I spotted His embrace in the warmth of a well-timed word, and I delighted in His affection as He extended His strength in my weakness.

Not surprisingly, the more I noticed the intimate and endless ways God was loving me, the more secure I felt in His love.

I don’t know how God is wooing your heart today, dear friend. But I have no doubt that He is.

God’s love for all of us is impartial, but His pursuit of each of us is personal.

Let’s refuse to doubt God’s love and choose to delight in it instead. Let’s stop comparing and start noticing.

As we pay attention to God’s one-of-a-kind wooing, we just might find ourselves echoing the words of a mud-splattered 4-year-old: “I love the way you’re loving me!”

Dear Jesus, help me recognize the ways You’re expressing Your love for me today. I want to delight in Your wooing and be aware of Your pursuing. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

TRUTH FOR TODAY:
Romans 5:5, “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (NIV)

Only One Way to Achieve Patience

Only One Way to Achieve Patience 
By: Shawn McEvoy

The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. - Ecclesiastes 7:8, NIV

Our senior pastor came into the room for a pre-arranged talk with all of us high school senior guys. He wanted to share something with us as we moved off into the next phases of our lives.

Out of all the applications and biblical wisdom at his disposal, what one topic was on his heart? What advice did he wish to impart above all?

He began by asking us to envision where we'd be in five, 10, 25 years. I'm just now coming up on that 25th year; I'm amazed at how differently some things have turned out, and how similar to my goals other things are. But that's not the point.

Our pastor next told us that the one thing we ought to pursue more than any other was... not holiness, not righteousness, not prayer... but patience. "Boys, raise your hand if you want to be a man of patience."

Okay, sure. Sounds good. Patience, yeah, that could be helpful to me. Hand up.

"Great. I'll tell you what, boys, can I pray with you now? But be aware, only agree with me in this prayer if you mean it, if you really want patience. Because do you know what it takes to develop patience? Problems. Only problems - and the way you react to them and trust God through them - can develop patience. Do you understand? So that's what I'm going to ask God for right now, that He'll bring you all problems. Are you ready?"

Sure. Why not?

Oh boy. Looking back, the last quarter century hasn't been hell on earth by any stretch, but its sure been full of its share of problems. As of this writing, I've got one that's forcing me to wait... and wait... and wait for an answer. I feel shamed when I go through a study about Abraham and how long he waited and waited for God to fulfill a direct promise, because I can't imagine waiting any longer than I already have. The only reason I continue to do so is because of the patience and wisdom I've built up having passed through earlier problems and trials, the outcomes of which inform me to keep waiting.

What's the moral here? Be careful what you pray for? Hmmm... maybe... but I think I prefer the lesson in today's verse, that patience (trusting God's way and waiting on His promise) is better than pride (my idea of the best way). To me, it's really eye-opening to think of those two concepts - patience and pride - as opposites. But that’s exactly how this verse sets them up. It suggests patience is akin to humility, and pride the brother of instant gratification. And I guess that makes sense. But why is patience better? Especially in this day and age when so much is there for the taking? When the respected thing to do is reach out and go for it? What had my pastor so convinced that doing the opposite was the most important lesson to send young men out into the world?

Honestly, I haven't completely figured that out yet. Appropriately, it's something I'm willing to be patient to gain the wisdom of. But I suspect it has something to do with what others see our tested faith has wrought in us, and with that pesky old verse from James:

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4).

Only problems can bring patience; only trials can test faith and make it real. Only endurance can lead to completion.

And when I am complete, I will lack nothing. At which time I apparently will have superseded even patience, as what would there be to wait for if I lack nothing?

It sounds almost mystical, almost unachievable, at least until the end of my life or when I meet God. Until then, I simply pray that the experience of each problem and the eventual result will steel me into calm, patient submission to God's perfect timing. 

Intersecting Faith & Life: Are you willing to pray a problem into your life? Why or why not?  

3 Specific Things That Point to the End Times

3 Specific Things That Point to the End Times
by Jennifer Waddle

*This devotion is taken in part by Jennifer Waddle’s article, Are We Living in The Last Days? You can read the entire article here.

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things that are written in it; for the time is near. Revelation 1:3

Books, movies, and speculations have been made about the end times, to the point that people have become almost calloused toward the thought. Sadly, the phrase “zombie apocalypse” has become more of a popular idea than the second coming of Jesus Christ.

For Christians, the “end of all things” ushers in the return of Jesus and the culmination of our faith. But even Christians grow complacent in the waiting. We get caught up in everyday life and forget about the much awaited day when every eye will see and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Philippians 2:9-11)

How can we be sure the end is near? What are the signs that Jesus’ return is right around the corner? Here are 3 specific things that point to the end times.

1. Growing corruption

Today’s culture has fulfilled every description in 2 Timothy 3:1-5. Daily, we hear about greed, deceit, and horrific crimes being committed by people who are unloving and unholy. Despising what is good, people have decided to live their lives based on the inclinations of their own hearts. Unfortunately, the Bible warns that our hearts are deceptive and full of wickedness.(Jeremiah 17:9)

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

As corruption continues to grow. we can remain steadfast, looking to the Author and Perfecter of our faith—Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 12:2)

2. Increased war

Battle and strife between people groups has been an issue since the beginning of creation. However, in the last days, wars and rumors of wars will only increase. From this basic timeline of wars across the centuries, we can see that world peace simply isn’t a reality.

As Jesus said in Matthew 24:6-7, there will continue to be wars and rumors of wars. Nation will rise against nation before His return. There really is only one true source of peace—Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

3. A rise in deceivers

Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” Matthew 24:4

In this century alone, more than half-a-dozen men have claimed to be the Christ. Deceiving the weak and vulnerable, they are fulfilling what Jesus warned about in Matthew 24. Christians must be on guard against this kind of deception.

For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Matthew 24:24 ESV

We must know what the Bible says in order to guard our own hearts from being deceived. No matter what sign or wonder is performed, nothing will compare to the glorious coming of the Savior. In the end, there will be no “guess-work” as to whether or not Jesus is who He says He is.

Instead of relying on books and movies to inform us of the end times, let’s rely on the only source of true wisdom—the living word of God.

“Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” Revelation 22:7

A Prayer For When You’re Asking, “How Long?”

A Prayer For When You’re Asking, “How Long?”by Ron Moore

LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Have mercy on me, LORD for I am faint; heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, LORD, how long? Turn, LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave? - Psalm 6:1-5

Sometimes sleep won't come. Sometimes the pain seems unbearable. Sometimes anxiety attacks the soul. Sometimes we don't know if we can make it another day. We cry out, "How long, LORD, how long?" We are confused and frustrated. We long for God's healing.

That's where David is in today's psalm. The circumstance is not known but one thing is clear; David is in "deep anguish." He feels that God is disciplining him. His body is weak. He doesn't know how much longer he can make it. He is in great pain. He doesn't know how much longer he can stand it. He is in distress. He doesn't know how much longer he can take it. He pleads for God's mercy and deliverance.

David's cry for help is based on God's "unfailing love." This attribute of God comes from the Hebrew word chesed. It is used 33 times in the Psalms. It describes God's loyal love, His love of covenant. It is a love that will never let go. No matter how you feel, God will not abandon the believer. No matter how great the anguish, He is by your side. God will never leave you. Hold on! He is there with you.

Father I am barely holding on. Please come to my aid. Please come soon. Because of Jesus I know Your unfailing love. I am holding on and trusting. Give me Your strength. I trust in You alone for deliverance. In Jesus' name. Amen.