When you were a child, did you ever pretend to be royalty? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a great ruler? You might think “I come from a low family, that could never be me, I'm not worth much of anything.” Well, are you aware that the Bible says that Jesus Christ has made us a Royal Priesthood? Worthy of double-honor from holding both positions of honor and glory.
Today we will be studying this high position which we hold in Christ Jesus, and how we can live in this honor and glory every single day of our life, and we will see our true worth and value in Christ today.
There have been quite a number of people who have wrote to me or spoken to me over the years about their problems. They tell me about their sicknesses, they tell me about their struggles, they tell me about their depression, and about their addictions and their needs of every kind. They do this because they are desperately seeking help, and in every single instance, I always lead them to the all-important truth: that Jesus is the answer.
Now some argue that this answer is too simplistic. However in truth, the Gospel is simple. It is life-changing truth, yet simple enough for a child to understand. The scriptures advise us to never leave the simplicity of the Gospel, and so today we will be studying the simple truth of the scripture, and how it is also applicable to save us in every area of or lives.
The title of the study today is purposefully phrased as a question, to get you to think. Many times believers quote Bible facts as rote and dry text rather than wonderful realities to be celebrated and rejoiced over.
Today we are going to be examining the wonderful truth that we are risen with Christ. As we see the reality of our status in Christ, this truth will become more than words and phrases that we recite, but it will become a life-changing realization that will strengthen our relationship with Jesus.
Service in the ministry is one of the most rewarding things that anyone could ever undertake. There is nothing like the experience of being led by God and given a plan and purpose by God and watching Him unfold it in your life. Every day is a blessing and every challenge ends-up being a new testimony of His love and power. However there are many serving in ministry, missions and church today, that are not experiencing what I have just described. Instead, they are finding stress, difficulty and frustration. Obviously this is not God's intention.
The same thing can be said for non-ministers as well, regardless of vocation or title, nothing can be successfully accomplished apart from the supply of Jesus. Notice that I said “successfully accomplished.” So today we will be examining the supply of Jesus that He gives to us for our benefit, how to receive it and how to apply it in our lives.
My mother used to have a lot of plants, and I used to enjoy watching her take care of them. I particularly liked planting seed and watching the complete process over weeks and months as the seed slowly grew out from the soil into a thriving plant. I remember that once for Christmas, my mother gave me a gift of a large package of many different types of seeds to grow. I was very excited and enthusiastic about it... but I encountered some unexpected difficulty in getting certain types of seed to grow, and as I researched some tips on improving my success I discovered that the soil was not right for certain types of the seed. For some seeds it was too hot or dry, and for others it was too cold or wet. Some seeds required cover soil, and others did not.
The Bible also speaks of soil and seeds, and how there is a certain type of spiritual soil that produces a wonderful harvest. If you have not been experiencing a very good spiritual yield in your life, then this study today will set you free.
One of our most popular and often requested resources, is our study on How to Have Faith in God. There have been testimonies of how this study has changed the minds and outlooks of people who now have a clear understanding of what faith is and how to grow in faith.
Today we will continue with part two of this study, examining what the Bible calls our “Good Fight of Faith”, what this fight is and how we can be victorious through Jesus Christ.
If you have not yet heard or read part one, I would suggest that you do so as the principles which we learned in that study will be mentioned and referred back to in our study today.
Ever since I was a young child, my mother would read me Bible stories from a large red illustrated Bible called “The Picture Bible.” One of my favorite stories depicted in it was the story of Samson. I thought it was awesome that Samson had supernatural strength because he never cut his hair, and I wished that I could have a similar covenant with God.
Now as I have mentioned many times before, ultimately the entire Bible is about Jesus, and this story has some amazing truths and an amazing lesson that will bless you greatly, and so we conclude our series on the glory of God with one of my favorite stories, and see an incredible picture of Jesus.
Do you want glory and honor? Most people are constantly looking to increase their glory and honor through all kinds of things. Some think that more money gives them honor. Some believe that becoming famous will add to their own glory and honor. Still others think that achieving a certain social status or level will also increase their honor and glory. The truth however is that we have a source of honor and glory that we have never known; and it's been right there in the Bible all along.
So our topic today is going to be this honor and glory, how to receive it, how to use it and also how to forfeit it. With this information, we can be assured of our divine glory given to us by Christ Jesus.
What is worship? A lot of people have an idea of worship being a group of like-minded believers getting together and singing songs on Sunday, but is that all worship is? Could there be more to it than that? The Bible has a very interesting definition of worship, which we have previously studied last year, however it also defines the proper attitude of worship. This is important because many people utter proper worshipful words but there is no real attitude or intent of worship. They view it more as a job to be completed, rather than a privilege and honor to worship the LORD and Savior.
Today we will be studying the Bible definition of worship, as well as how this attitude can become the reality in our lives, so that we can have a life filled with rich and honest worship, and not have it simply be a task that we perform on Sunday any longer.
The Christian culture has developed many canned-responses as answers for problems in life. One of the most common ones is “look to Jesus” . Whenever there's a problem, some well-intentioned believer will smile and say “Oh, you just need to look to Jesus!”
Technically, this advice is correct, but there is a huge gaping problem with it... What exactly does it mean to look to Jesus? While the advice may be right, it does little good if the person on the receiving end does not know how to put it into practice. So today, we will be studying what it actually means to look to Jesus, and the answer may surprise you.