Persecution and the Believer Part 2

Quick update to yesterday’s Pray for a Persecuted Church Right now: This is now day 5 of the pastors being detained.  Please pray for other Christians too since their phones have been taken by authorities which the authorities can reconstruct other Christian leaders and churches.  These are perilous times for Christians in that country in East Asia.

(For part 1 check out Persecution and the Believer Part 1)

Establish the need: Have you thought about Christian persecution?

Purpose: Today we shall see four more of eight truths the Bible teaches about Christians and persecutions so that you be strong in Christ when the time comes.

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Persecution and the Believer Part 1

Quick update to yesterday’s Pray for a Persecuted Church Right now: The authorities have let go of others but the four elders/pastors detained from this persecuted church have been punished and sent to jail for two weeks.  Updates will probably be delayed because of security concern.  This post is timely and relevant, as it is about what the Bible teaches about persecution and believers.

Establish the need: Have you thought about Christian persecution?

 

Purpose: Today we shall see four of eight truths the Bible teaches about Christians and persecutions so that you be strong in Christ when the time comes.

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Prayer is Possible Because of Jesus

 

Establish the need: Who made it possible that we can pray to God?

 

Purpose: Today we shall see three points concerning how Jesus is the one who made it possible we can pray.

• God does not hear the prayer of the unrighteous
• Jesus made it possible we can go to God
• Our prayers are done in Jesus’ name

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This Sunday at Church: Pray for Justice for the Land

Our “This Sunday” series will be another a Corona Virus edition.  For this Sunday here’s what you can do: Pray for Justice for the Land.

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Bible Contradiction? How did Peter and Andrew become Jesus’s disciples?

 

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: How did Peter and Andrew become Jesus’s disciples?

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

Jesus called them directly as they were fishing on the Sea of Galilee.

“As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” (Mark 1:16-17)

“Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; 13 and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: 15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16 “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned.” 17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 18 Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He *said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”” (Matthew 4:12-19)

They were with John the Baptist and approached Jesus on their own.

“Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 And Jesus turned and saw them following, and *said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?” 39 He *said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He *found first his own brother Simon and *said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).” (John 1:35-42)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

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Two Christian Children’s Book Coming Soon: Summer 2020

These Christian children’s books are yet to be published and will be coming out this Summer.  Thanks to the publishers for advance review copy!

Tim Ladwig. Stories Jesus Told: Looking for the Lost Sheep. Grand Rapids, MI: Our Daily Bread Publishing, August 4th 2020. 32 pp.

5 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon

Want a children’s picture story book that you can read concerning Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep?  Tim Ladwig has done another excellent children’s book on Jesus’ parables.  I was actually excited seeing he has another volume out.  Previously I have enjoyed his book on Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son and the Good Samaritan.  In this present volume he continues the trend of making good quality children’s book.

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Objection to Prayer: If God is sovereign why pray?

Photo by nappy on Pexels.com

Selected Verse

Establish the need: If God is sovereign why pray?

Purpose: Today we shall consider six points in answering the question: If God is sovereign why pray?

1. Point 1: We need to affirm God is sovereign
2. Point 2: We pray simply because prayer is commanded by God
3. Point 3: Prayer requests presupposes God’s sovereignty
4. Point 4: The question wrongly assumes prayer is just asking for things
5. Point 5: Prayer doesn’t change God’s mind
6. Point 6: Prayer changes our situation

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Purpose of Prayer

Note: Kind of late posting this, multiple things, last 24 hours has been crazy.

Selected Verse

Establish the need: Why do we pray?

 

Purpose: Today we shall see the purpose of prayer outlined as 3 “A”s so that we would pray purposefully today.

• To Ascribe Glory to God
• To Associate Relationally with God
• To Ask for God’s Benefits for us

 

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The Church during the days of Corona Virus: Patience with disagreements about the Virus

Our “This Sunday” series will be another a Corona Virus edition.  For this Sunday here’s what you can do: Patience with disagreements about the Virus.

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Bible Contradiction? Did John the Baptist recognize Jesus as the Son of God?

 

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Did John the Baptist recognize Jesus as the Son of God?

Here are the answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

Yes, he recognized him immediately.

“The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ 31 I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” 32 John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not recognize [d]Him, but He who sent me to baptize [e]in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes [f]in the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”” (John 1:29-34)

No, he still wasn’t sure when he was in prison.

“Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?”” (Matthew 11:2-3)

“Summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?”” (Luke 7:19)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

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Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer in Luke Part 2

LUKE 11:2c-4

ESTABLISH THE NEED:  If there’s ever a message that convicts all Christians, it is messages on evangelism and prayer.  All Christians could work on being more evangelistic and pray more.  It’s a convicting message today.  Let me ask you a question:  How often do you pray?

If we don’t know what to pray or how to pray, we would probably not pray.  When my sister brought a drum set, after she left for college, I looked at the drum pieces disassembled, I tried putting together, I beat around a little bit, but since I didn’t know how to put it together, or know how to play, I stopped doing anything with it.  That’s like our prayer life also.

 

Main point: We will see three principles that Jesus taught His disciples in regards to how to pray, so that you would know how and this knowledge would make you pray.

1. You should pray seeking God first (2c-d)
2. You should pray trusting for your daily needs (3)
3. You should pray dealing with sin (4)

 

¹ It happened that while ^[a]Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” ² And He said to them, “When you pray, say:

   ‘^[b]Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
³ ‘Give us each day our ^[c]daily bread.
⁴ ‘And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”

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Psalm 118 in Jesus’ last week

Psalm 118 in Jesus’ last week

Psalm 118

 

Establish the need: Have you ever heard of the song, “This is the day that the LORD has made”?

 

Purpose: To marvel at this Messianic prophecies of Christ’s last week.

1. Psalm 118:26 on Palm Sunday
2. Psalm 118:22-23 mentioned by Jesus during the week
3. Psalm 118:22-24 on that DAY

 

Reminder:

• The last twenty four hours Jesus sang according to Matthew 26:30 and Mark 14:26.[1]
• This would have been Psalms 113-118.
• That is because the Jews sang Psalms 113-118 during the Passover.
• Psalms 113-118 was called the “Hallel” Psalms.[2]
• The Jews sang Psalm 113-114 before the Passover meal and afterwards they sang Psalm 115-118.[3]
  These songs would have been the Scriptures that Jesus have thought about as He was the worship leader for the Passover meal that was His Last Supper with His followers before He would be crucified the next day.
• Yet these would minister to Him and therefore also minister to us!

Background

• This is a Hillel Psalm; The Jews would have read Psalm 113-118 during the three major religious holiday: Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacle.  Psalm 118 would have been the last Psalm read.
• The part of verse we are reading in, is a bit different because of the shift of the subject of the “stone.”

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The Church during the days of Corona Virus: Have your kids write a Card to another Child

Our “This Sunday” series will be another a Corona Virus edition.  For this Sunday here’s what you can do: Have your kids write a Card to another Child.

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Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer in Luke Part 1

LUKE 11:1-2b

¹ It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” ² And He said to them, “When you pray, say:

   ‘Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
³ ‘Give us each day our daily bread.
⁴ ‘And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”

Main point: Before going into further principles in this series on prayer, we will see Jesus laying three important building blocks so that you will pray to God.

1. You should pray (1-2a)
2. You should pray with others (2b)
3. You should pray intimately (2c)

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The Church during the days of Corona Virus: Pray for those who have the virus

Our “This Sunday” series will be another a Corona Virus edition.  Last week we wrote “The Church during the days of Corona Virus: Pray for those who are unemployed.”  For this Sunday here’s what you can do: Pray for those who have the virus.

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