Resources from 2023

Authentic Happiness

SCRIPTURE Psalm 1:1-2 Blessed is the man    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,nor stands in the way of sinners,    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,    and on his law he meditates day and night. OBSERVATIONS Acronym to pray before reading the Bible –  I – Incline: “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!” (Psalm 119:36)  O – Open: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” (Psalm 119:18)  U – Unite: “Teach me your…

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,…

Jesus – The Promised Savior and King

SCRIPTURE Matthew 2:1-23 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In…

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…

From Groaning to Glory

SCRIPTURE Romans 8:18-30 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the…

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…

Death through Adam, Life through Christ

SCRIPTURE Romans 5:12-21 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if…

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…

The Glory of Christ

SCRIPTURE Hebrews 1:1-4 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become…

Illustration of Saving Faith

SCRIPTURE Romans 4:1-25 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies…

Justified by Faith

SCRIPTURE Romans 3:21-31 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because…

Not By Works

SCRIPTURE Romans 2:17-3:20 17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18 and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19 and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you then who teach others, do you not…

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…

Deliver Us From Evil

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.] James 1:13 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted…

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…

Lonely Nights

SCRIPTURE Genesis 28:10-22; 32:22-32 10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and…