This coming Sunday (12-17-17), we are going to talk about how our zealous works need to be motivated & stirred up by love. If we desire to be zealous like our Lord Jesus, love must be the primary reason why we want to serve the Lord and one another. The Lord’s love needs to stir us up to be concerned for the physical and spiritual well-being of others.

Here are some passages you can look up and mediate upon to prepare for the lesson:

• 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
• 1 Corinthians 14:1-4; 12
• 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Here are some questions you can also think about:

• Can you enter your name in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7?
  • Do your good works show love towards others?
  • Are your actions motivated by pride and selfishness or by love for others?
• Are there things you are unwilling to do for others?
• Are there people you are unwilling to serve?
• Are you only willing to love if you don’t have to make sacrifices?

​​If you would like a copy of the interactive outline that will be in Sunday's bulletin, click the button below:

This Sunday, we are going to talk about how we can be more diligent in our service to the Lord Jesus. If we are not growing in diligence, our zeal for the Lord will not last. 

Here are some passages you can look up and mediate upon to prepare for the lesson:

• Hebrews 6:9-12
• Romans 12:11
• Philippians 2:3-4
• 2 Peter 1:9-11; 3:14-15

Here are some questions you can also think about:

• Can you enter your name below? 
  • _____________ is steadfast, immovable, & always abounding in the Lord’s work?
• Are there things that you are allowing to cause you to lack diligence for spiritual things? 
  • Laziness?
  • Selfishness?
  • A sin you are struggling with?
  • Spiritual procrastination? 
• Does receiving God's mercy lead you to “make every effort” to make your calling and election sure and to be found w/o spot or blemish?

​If you would like a copy of the interactive outline that will be in Sunday's bulletin, click the button below:

​For our 9AM lesson on the minor prophets, we are going to look at the book of Nahum. Within the book Nahum pronounces God's judgments on the city of Nineveh and on the Assyrians, but the main reason the book was written was to teach God's people something: God's judgment on His enemies means comfort is coming for His people. God is going to right the wrongs done to His people. 

In 2016, we had as our annual theme the subject of being fruitful branches of the Lord. Although 2016 is long gone, we need to remember that being fruitful is still necessary for us today. So over the next few weeks, we are going to review some of the ideas that we studied during 2016 in our series titled Cultivating Good Soil.

Our first lesson in the series taught us how we need to listen to God's word if we want it to make an impact in our lives. Here are the main points that we made during the lesson:

• Every person must hear the word of God. No matter what we believe about the type of soil/heart someone has, everyone (including us) must hear the word of God and be given the opportunity to bear fruit. Jesus taught the word to those who were good soil, and he also taught the word to those who were hardened and distracted. 
• How each of us responds to the word depends on two factors: 1) Are we really listening? 2) Are there things in our lives that are hindering the word from doing it's work within us? 
• How should we listen? (Mark 4:21-25)
  • Often! (4:21-23) God intends the light of His word to shine within us and to reveal things to us. If we are not getting into it often, then we are keeping ourselves from God's blessings. We need to get into it. We need to let it show us who we are, even if what we see will make us uncomfortable and challenge us to make changes in our lives. 
  • Carefully! (4:24-25) Some translations say in v24 to "take care" or to "take heed" what you hear. If this is the correct translation, then Jesus is showing us that we need to make sure we are giving our attention to the right message - the voice of our shepherd and not competing voices that can take us away from God. This point is true, whether this is the right translation of the passage or not (John 10:4-5, 16). Some translations translate this passage "pay attention to what you hear..." This translation focus not just on what we hear, but how we hear it. Jesus is saying to really pay attention to it. We must listen to it with a certain purpose in mind: to apply it and be changed by it. 

​With the last point of needing to listen to apply God's word to our lives, here are some questions of application:

• As we read God’s word, do we do so just we can put the check in the box in our daily reading schedule to show we have been making progress, or do we read with the purpose of being fruitful?
• Do we read just so we can be prepared to share information in Bible class, or do we read so we can be equipped by the Lord and so we can stir up one another to love and good works?
• Do we pay attention when God's word is being taught, or are our minds elsewhere during Bible classes and sermons? 

If you would like to watch the whole sermon, you can watch it below. 

This coming Sunday, ​we are going to talk about how we can display more courage for the Lord. Too often we can allow the fears that we face and the things people do to discourage us to keep us from doing what is right. When we allow this to happen, our zeal can diminish and our “fire” can burn out. 

Here are some passages you can look up and mediate upon to prepare for the lesson:

• 2 Timothy 1:6-7
• 2 Timothy 1:11-14
• Joshua 1:5, 9
• 1 Peter 3:13

Here are some questions you can also think about:

• Are you living courageously for the Lord?
• Are there things that you are allowing to cause you to fear? 
  • A desire to please men and to have them like us?
  • A love for the things of the world that we don’t want to lose: our lives, our possessions?
  • A lack of trust in God’s promises?
• Are you allowing fears and discouragement to lead you to be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

​
If you would like a copy of the interactive outline that will be in Sunday's bulletin, click the button below: