GOD, WHAT DO YOU PROMISE ME? | GOD PROMISES US ETERNAL LIFE The Promise of Eternal Life may be the first promise we learn of as Christians. This Promise answers one of the questions every person will ask: “What happens to me after I die?” I became a Christian at six years old, and once I learned that being a Christian means I get to go to heaven, I accepted that truth and didn’t give it much more thought. As life unfolded, I have found myself returning to this promise more.

GOD, WHAT DO YOU PROMISE ME? | GOD PROMISES HE IS UNCHANGING I have an interesting relationship with change. Naturally, I say I don’t like it. I like predictability, consistency, and repetitiveness. I like rhythms and habits and routines; I like order. I like knowing what to expect, and especially don’t like change that I didn’t see coming. I don’t like change I didn’t choose. However, I have prayed quite a few prayers asking for change. When we needed a breakthrough in our

GOD, WHAT DO YOU PROMISE ME? The Bible is full of God’s Promises. In many ways, they’re declared in the Old Testament, displayed in the New Testament, and celebrated in the Psalms. David rejoiced in God’s Promises. There’s so much to do with God’s Promises. We should know them, claim them, believe for them, testify to them, but we must also remember to love them as much as we are led by them. If you ever find yourself struggling to worship or desperate for a sense of steadi

GOD, WHO ARE YOU? This week, we have looked at five characteristics of God. There are so many more to consider, such as: Forgiver Judge Redeemer Savior Healer Shepherd Ruler Of the five we studied this week, or any other characteristic of God, what is God speaking to you most about who He is? What part of Who God is do you need revealed even more to you? Write a prayer to the Lord, being honest about what has happened that’s made it hard for you to believe in a specific p

GOD, WHO ARE YOU? | GOD IS OUR SUSTAINER One of the great privileges of pastoring is walking alongside people. We often get invited to their mountaintops and their valleys. We get to hear so many testimonies of how God has provided for people and pray for people while they’re in the waiting. It’s in the waiting that hear the greatest pain and, sometimes... it’s in the waiting that I hear the greatest healing. When someone shares with me how God has changed their heart befor

GOD, WHO ARE YOU? | GOD IS OUR RESTORER Mary Magdalene was a devout follower of Jesus. There aren’t many Scriptures devoted to her, but the few that are, are power-packed. Read Luke 8:1-3 John 19:23-25 Mark 15:45-47 Matthew 28:5-7 John 20:1-18 Mary had been healed and delivered by Jesus; she had seven demons inside of her. With that amount of terror and evil inside her body, her lucid moments must have been horrible. Her body must have been consumed by debilitating pa

GOD, WHO ARE YOU? | GOD IS OUR COMFORTER I’m always amazed that the God of Creation, the King of Kings, the Holy of Holies, the Lord of Lords cares about our comfort. It’s remarkable to me that He is paying that much attention to us. He doesn’t just care about what we’re doing, He cares about how we’re doing. The Bible tells us He is our Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6) and His Holy Spirit is our Comforter (John 16:7). Elijah experienced being comforted by God during an

GOD, WHO ARE YOU? | GOD IS OUR EQUIPPER As often as I have asked the question, “God, who are You?”, I have just as frequently asked “God, who am I?” Especially when it comes to stepping into my calling. Like you, I’ve been called to many things throughout my life. As a teenager, I remember being called into a few leadership opportunities, and I wondered why God would choose me for those responsibilities. When I was 21 years old, I was hired as a third-grade teacher in the m

GOD, WHO ARE YOU? | GOD IS OUR CREATOR God reveals Himself to us first as a Creator; THE Creator. Read Genesis 1 This is likely not an unfamiliar passage of scripture to you, nor an unfamiliar characteristic of God. It may seem hard to learn something new about God from a passage and characteristic you are so familiar with. I haven’t spent much time in the 40 years of my relationship with the Lord studying Him as the Creator; this was a part of God that was very settled fo

GOD, WHO ARE YOU? We’re going to begin by asking God to reveal more of Himself to us. Who is He? What is His character? We will not come close to answering this question in seven days; we can’t even fully answer this question with a lifetime of study. He’s far more than what we’ll see in these five passages in scripture. These are a starting point of Who God is. It is so important to God that we understand Who He is, that He sent Jesus, His Son, from being with Him in heave

Have you ever thought about what you love the MOST about God? Do you have a FAVORITE part of God? I think I do. Or at least I know today’s favorite thing about God. Like me, you may change your mind about this. Something about being a girl makes us slightly susceptible to changing our minds about a number of things. That’s one of my favorite things about us girls, actually… how flexible we are. How much we embrace learning new things and maturing as we walk through life. H

SCRIPTURE - LUKE 6:46-48 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. OBSERVATION Jesus says that those who hear His words and put them into practice are

SCRIPTURE - GENSIS 6:9-22 Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to dest

SCRIPTURE - MATTHEW 14:22-23 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw h

SCRIPTURE - ACTS 9:10-19 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your hol

SCRIPTURE - GENESIS 22:1-14 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place

SCRIPTURE - LUKE 5:1-11 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water

SCRIPTURE - PROVERBS 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. OBSERVATION In these verses, the author of Proverbs is calling us away from half-hearted trust in God. Our trust becomes half-hearted when it only applies to certain parts of our lives. We may be willing to trust God with some things, but with others, we prefer to hold on to our own ways. There are ofte

SCRIPTURE - JOHN 14:25-27 “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. OBSERVATION In this passage, Jesus prepares His disciples for the moment He will no longer be physically with

SCRIPTURE - 2 CHRONICLES 20:1-6; 12; 15-17 Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazezon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi). Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him. Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah

SCRIPTURE - LUKE 10:38-42 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried a

SCRIPTURE - JOHN 10:1-5 Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But th

SCRIPTURE - 1 KINGS 19:11-18 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah hea

SCRIPTURE - EZRA 3:1-6 When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled together as one in Jerusalem. Then Joshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its f