Trip to Costa Rica
I am grateful to the elders for permitting me the time to go, to Rafael Barrantes for the invitation, and to God for the opportunity to lift up His Son Jesus Christ to the people of Costa Rica.
I am grateful to the elders for permitting me the time to go, to Rafael Barrantes for the invitation, and to God for the opportunity to lift up His Son Jesus Christ to the people of Costa Rica.
We should love the law of God because: 1) It Gives Us Understanding, 2) It Makes us Upright, 3) It is Uplifting. Each listener should understand what spiritual benefits come from loving the law of God as set forth in Psalm 119:97-104. I hope that each would renew their love for God’s law.
Christian unity is based upon Christian teaching. We are united as Christians and without the teaching we are not Christians. This teaching is summarized in the list of seven “ones” in Ephesians 4:4-6. Each person should understand that for us to have unity as Christians we must adhere to the same standards of Christian teaching.
The kingdom of God is composed of people not expected by men because 1) Men judge based on appearances only, 2) Men do not believe in God’s mercy and grace, 3) Men Make Cheap Sacrifices thinking that will be pleasing to God. Each listener should understand that it is God who sets the standard for who enters His kingdom, not us. I hope that we would seek to understand what God’s standard for the kingdom is so that we can conform to it being a people that doesn’t judge based on appearances, that show true mercy and grace to others, and that understand that we must make real sacrifices.
Jesus died on the cross so that we could be forgiven of sin. Forgiveness means that 1) Every person has an opportunity to be forgiven. 2) God no longer holds our sins against us, 3) We have a standard upon which to forgive one another. Each listener should know what he needs to do to obtain forgiveness, where that puts him in a relationship to God, and to his fellow.
What will be the fate of the rest? “But as for those whose hearts follow the desire for their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their deeds on their own heads,” (Ezekiel 11:21-22).
God has made extraordinary efforts to encourage humanity to repent. In this lesson, we will look at how Revelation 8-9 teach this truth through the limited judgments that God has used on the earth. The hearer should understand that the world is designed in such a way as to bring suffering humanity to repentance for their sins, and that when we don’t repent, we create great suffering in our lives. I want to teach Revelation 8-9 and show the relationship of these verses to the Old Testament prophets and their call for people to repent.
In this lesson, we will look at some attitudes and actions that are involved in practicing forgiveness. Each person should be able to understand the proper attitude to have toward someone who is need of and seeks forgiveness. The aim of this lesson is that each soberly contemplates their need for forgiveness from God in relation to another's need for forgiveness from them.
Everyone knows that person who wallows in self-pity. Ask them how they are doing, and their response is “I’m OK, I guess.”
In this study, we will look at different kinds of risks that Christians must take to be Christians. There is the risk of 1) Leaving the ones we love, 2) financial loss, 3) our life and health, 4) public rejection and failure. Each Christian should know what kind of risks he or she faces each day in living the Christian life and be prepared to handle those risks understanding that while there may be "risks" while we are upon the earth, the outcome is guaranteed. I want to spur the brethren on toward taking more risks in these areas because the greater risk one takes the greater reward that is associated with the risk.
Do we hold back from teaching the gospel to those who don’t look, smell, act, or live like us because they are “dirty”? God didn’t accept Peter’s reticence, and He won’t accept ours either because He wants everyone to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4).
In this lesson, we will look at what Jesus did not do that most people would have done given the same circumstances. The listener should understand that Jesus was extraordinary in His behavior. We will conclude that Jesus was divine.
May God bless our mothers, and may our mothers be godly.
The point is this: the assumption of restoration does not necessarily imply non existence of that which needs to be restored as the question seems to imply. We recognize that restoration means that that which needs to be restored has deteriorated badly. In what sense? In the sense that not very much of the original is left. But that means that SOME of the original is still there. How can it be restored? By following the pattern for the original. In the case of the church, where do we find that pattern? In the New Testament.
We praise the Maker of our mothers because He made our mothers to be 1) Kind, 2) Compassionate, and 3) Caring. Each listener should be able to understand why God made mothers and the importance of their role within the home.