Resources by Adam Pursel

Don’t Put God to the Test

SCRIPTURE Matthew 4:1-7 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,  “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”  5 Then the devil took him to…

People Matter to God

SCRIPTURE Romans 16:1-27 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae, 2 that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well.  3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the…

Welcome Others as Christ has Welcomed You

SCRIPTURE Romans 14:1-15:13 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he…

Make No Provision for the Flesh

SCRIPTURE Romans 13:1-14 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he…

A Living Sacrifice

SCRIPTURE Romans 12:1-21 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.  3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not…

Faith Comes from Hearing

SCRIPTURE Romans 9:30-10:21 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written,  “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling,…

God’s Word Doesn’t Fail

SCRIPTURE Romans 9:1-29 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them…

Make Every Effort

SCRIPTURE 2 Peter 1:1-11 Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,  To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:  2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory…

Home for Christmas

SCRIPTURE John 14:1-7 Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him,…

He Will Save His People

SCRIPTURE Matthew 1:18-25 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do…

Nothing Can Separate Us

SCRIPTURE Romans 8:31-39 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of…

No Condemnation

SCRIPTURE Romans 8:1-17 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be…

Who Will Save Me From This Body of Death?

SCRIPTURE Romans 7:1-25 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she…

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

SCRIPTURE Romans 6:1-23 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk…

God’s Love Poured into Human Hearts

SCRIPTURE Romans 5:1-11 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into…

We Are Without Excuse

SCRIPTURE Romans 1:16-2:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can…

Jesus Saves Sinners

SCRIPTURE Romans 1:1-17 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience…

Forgiveness and Food

SCRIPTURE Matthew 6:9-13 9 Pray then like this:  “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11  Give us this day our daily bread, 12  and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.]   When we study God’s Word, it should lead us to both rejoicing and…

Thy Kingdom Come

SCRIPTURE Matthew 6:9-13 9 Pray then like this:  “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11  Give us this day our daily bread, 12  and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.]   When we study God’s Word, it should lead us to both rejoicing and…

Our Father in Heaven

SCRIPTURE Matthew 6:9-13 9 Pray then like this:  “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11  Give us this day our daily bread, 12  and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.]   When we study God’s Word, it should lead us to both rejoicing and…

And He Was Put in a Coffin in Egypt

SCRIPTURE Genesis 50:15-26 15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” 16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: 17 ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.” ’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God…

God Was With Joseph

SCRIPTURE Genesis 39:1-23 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. 2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. 4 So Joseph found…

The Promise to Isaac

SCRIPTURE Genesis 25:19-26:5 19 These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. 21 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening…

God Blesses Abraham

SCRIPTURE Genesis 12:1-3; 15:1-21 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed…” …