The Goodness of God - 3

What can I say about His Goodness?  I don't think there are words to describe it. I think I'll let the Scriptures describe it for me.

Good and Upright

Psalm 25:8  "Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will He teach sinners in the way."

The Earth is Full

Psalm 33:5  "He loves righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord."

Taste and See

Psalm 34:8  "O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusts in Him."

A Strong Hold in the Day of Trouble

Nahum 1:7  "The Lord is good; a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knows them that trust in Him."

There is Only One Good

Matthew 19:17  "And He said unto him, Why call thou Me good?  There is none good but One, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."

Leads to Repentance

Romans 2:4  "Or despise thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads thee to repentance?"

What do you think now about His goodness?  He is good and upright and the earth is full of His goodness.  He has asked us to taste and see for ourselves of His goodness.  He is a stronghold for us and He is the only One who is good and His goodness will lead us to repentance if we allow it to.
Will you allow Him to lead you to repentance?  I am willing and I pray that you are too.  Grandma Joan

The Work of God in Us - 4 -

There are some promises that prove that God works in us to save us.  I would like to share some with you today.

Philippians 1:6  "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."  God does not force Himself upon us to save us, we have to allow Him in our lives for Him to send us the help we need.

Philippians 2:13  "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."
Do you think that it is His good pleasure to save you?  Something to think about.

1 Thessalonians 5:21-24  "Test all things, hold fast what is good.  Abstain from every form of evil.  Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it."

Ephesians 2:1  "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins."

Jude 24  "Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy."

Hebrews 13:20,21  "Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.  Amen."

Galatians 2:20  "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave Himself for me."

Psalm 18:32  "It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect."

Psalm 32:8  "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye."

Isaiah 26:12  "Lord, You will establish peace for us, for You have also done all our works in us."

Do these verses convince you that we cannot earn our salvation at all, it is all through a complete surrender to Christ and God and He does the work.  Our work is to surrender our all to Him which at times is a very hard work.  But we must do it.  God will instruct us and teach us in the way that we should go and give us the strength and power to obey.  Grandma Joan

The Power of God - 3-

Let's talk about the power of God today, His power in the world, in our lives, and any other place we might find His power.  I am sure without a doubt that we do not realize how mighty and powerful our great God is.  It is beyond our imagination to grasp just a little bit of what His power is.  So let's see what the Bible says about the power of God.

Genesis 18:14  "Is anything to hard for the Lord?  At the appointed time I will return to you according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son."  Sarah was at least 90 years old at this time and Abraham was at least 100 years old, and they considered their bodies dead as far as having a child was concerned.  But what God promises, He does and they did have a son.

Job 42:2  "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You."

Psalm 89:8  "O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty like you, O, Lord..."

1 Corinthians 2:4,5  "And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power of Good, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."

1 Corinthians 1:18  "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved , it is the power of God."

2 Corinthians 10:4  "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God, for pulling down strongholds."

Romans 1:20  "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and God head, so that they are without excuse."

2 Peter1:16  "For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty."

Job said, 'I know you can do everything,' and David said, 'who is mighty like you, O, Lord...'.  Also we should not put our faith in men and that includes some preachers, but in the power of God.  There are a lot of false theories blowing around out there, thats why we need to be students of the word.

The message of the cross is foolishness to some but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God.  The weapons of our warfare against evil, are not in our strength but mighty in God.

We can see God's wonderful attributes all around us, in nature, in miracles of healing, spiritual and physical and also emotionally.  We are eyewitnesses to what He has done in our own lives and those we love.  So let us trust in His mighty power to send us help in living a righteous life.  Grandma Joan

The Glory of God -2

Have you ever seen the glory of God, I haven't either.  I know that God's glory cannot be endured by humanity according to the Scriptures but we can at least read about it and one thing I do know is the more we study about God, the more we will want to be like Him, and just maybe we will find some verses in our studies to help us understand Him more.  Let's see.

Like Devouring Fire

Exodus 24:17  "And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel."

Filled the Tabernacle

Exodus 40:34  "Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle."

Priests Could Not Minister

1Kings 8:11  "So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord."

The Heavens Declare the Glory

Psalm 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork."

And They Were Afraid

Luke 2:9  "And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid."

Saw the Glory of the Lord

Acts 7:55  "  But he being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus  standing on the right hand of God."  Speaking of Stephen when he was stoned for confessing Christ.

We are Changed

2 Corinthians 3:18  "But we all,with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

We don't know a lot about God the Father, but one thing we do know is that He is full of love for this fallen world, and we know that for sure because He sent His only Son to die for our sins and pay our debt on Calvary so that we might receive His character and be able to live with Him for eternity.  If that isn't love, I guess I don't know what love is.  I don't understand it.  It may take us eternity to understand it.  We can let our imagination picture it all we want and it won't compare to the reality of it all.  So the next best thing to being there is to prepare to be there, don't you think.  I want to be.  I pray that you do too.  Grandma Joan

Gifts From God

God has special gifts for everyone who asks and He has a gift or gifts for you.  Sometimes we can only handle one gift but I think most of us can handle more than one.  Let's see. I am going to put the gifts in the verses in bold print, so let's see how many we can find.

Psalm 84:11  "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly."

Matthew 7:11  "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is heaven give good things to those who ask Him."

Luke 11:13  "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him."

Luke 12:32  "Do not fear, little flock , for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom."

John 3:16  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

John 4:10  "Jesus answered and said unto her, 'If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, give Me to drink' , you would have asked Him, and He would have given you Living water."

Acts 2:38  "Then Peter said to them, 'repent every one of you, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins' and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Acts 5:32  "And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him."

Romans 6:23  "The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Ephesians 2:8,9  "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."

James 1:5  "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given him."

1 Peter 4:10  "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."

Well, you see there are many, many gifts that God gives His children and I would say that all that we found tonight are very important for each one of us to possess, don't you think so.  There are quite a few others that we didn't mention which you would not want to possess them all as it would end up being a great burden, like teaching, prophecy, healing, discerning of spirits, etc.  And you would not be able to do them all justice.  But the ones we studied today, we will be blessed to have them all.
Grandma Joan

God's Guidance in Our Life

Who doesn't need direction or guidance in their life?  I know I do.  There are always questions as to what we ought to do? or where we ought to go? or how we ought to do something?  Always in need of answers and guidance.  The Bible has some sure answers to these questions.  Let's see what they are.

Psalm 16:11  "You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy.  At your right hand are pleasures forever more."

Psalm 18:36  "You enlarged my path under me, so my feet did not slip."

Psalm 32:8  "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye."

Psalm 37:23,24  "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in His ways, though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His right hand"

Psalm 40:1,2  "I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me and heard my cry.  He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, and the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps."

Isaiah 30:21  "Your ears will hear a word behind you saying, 'This is the way walk in it, whenever you turn to the right hand and whenever you turn to the left."

Psalm 25:9  "The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way."

Psalm 73:23,24  "Never the less I am continually with You.  You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory."

Isaiah 58:11  "The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen your bones..."

These verses are not only guidance verses, most of them have a promise attached to them.  These verses mean a lot to me, we always need guidance, always.  We always have questions and wonder what we should do.  We have a Master guide right at our right hand to lead the way in every aspect of life.  There is no need in worrying or fretting about what we should do.  God is right there with His right hand of guidance.  Let's us always seek Him first before venturing out on our own way and being sorry we didn't take time for counsel.  Grandma Joan

The Sufferings of Christ

I don't think its humanely possible to even imagine what kind of suffering our Savior went through so we could have eternal life with Him.  I hope this study will brighten our understanding a little so that we will not want to hurt the One that died to save us.  I surely hope that this will give us some under-standing as to what Christ went through.

Isaiah 50:6  "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.  I hid not my face from shame and spitting."  Can you imagine being smitten, having your beard pulled out if you are a man, and being spit on?

Isaiah 53:5  "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed."  He was wounded for our sins, and was bruised for our iniquities and with His stripes we are healed from our sinful life.

Mark 15:34  "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?  What a horrible thought to think that your God has forsaken you.  That's a horrible thought for me, if I thought He had forsaken me, which I know He hasn't.  But the agony that Jesus went through He was feeling forsaken by His Father.  I can't imagine that at all.

Luke 22:44  "And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat  was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."  Being in such agony as sweating great drops of blood, it is so unreal to us today to imagine anything like that.

Hebrews 2:10  "For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings."  We can be brought to glory by the One who suffered for like this for us."

Hebrews 13:12  "Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate."  Jesus suffered outside the gate of Jerusalem on a hill called Golgotha.

1 Peter 3:18  "For Christ also hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." Christ did all this suffering to bring us to God and to put to death our sinful flesh and quicken us by His Spirit.

I have a simple mind, I guess because I like to say some of the verses using my own words to help me understand what the verse is saying.  I hope you don't mind.  You can do the same with your own thoughts.  It puts a better light on it for me  I hope it doesn't distract you in the least.  It is very hard for me to understand and I doubt if I ever will until some day when I see Jesus face to face, what He went through on Calvary.  I know it was an excruciating experience for Him, it wasn't the physical torture that He went through it was the fact that He had the sins of the whole world placed upon Him, yes your sins and mine.  He suffered for all the murders, rapes, tortures, robberies, abuse, and you name it plus all the things that you would consider small sins, which I don't believe any sin is small but certainly some are much worse than others.  Can you imagine all of that weight upon your shoulders?  Every sin that was ever committed He suffered for.  It is so hard to comprehend, I can't begin to fathom it.  All I can say is, 'Thank you Lord Jesus for doing that for me' and I hope that you can say the same thing.  We need to be so grateful that He carried all our sins to the cross and we do not have to pay the penalty for any of them if we have repented of them and confessed them to the Father, through Jesus.  It is so important and then remember what He said to the woman that was caught in adultery, 'Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more'.  Grandma Joan