Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! No matter how bad things are around you, you can always rejoice in the Lord. Why? Because God is always good even when things seem bad. We can look beyond the temporary problems of life and focus on the Eternal God and His goodness. We can rejoice that God loves us and that we are redeemed by His blood. If you only rejoice when you feel good and circumstances warrant it, you may never rejoice much. But you will miss …

Is the cost of discipleship worth it? I believe so. Consider…….

1. Present blessings

• Jesus offers peace the world cannot give – to calm the troubled heart – (John 14:27)
• He offers to those who follow Him the abiding love of God – which casts out fear
• Read: (John 15:9) (1 John 4:18)

2.   Future blessings

• We shall be saved from the wrath of God which is to come – (Acts 17:31) (Romans 5:9)
• We can look forward with joyful anticipation of eternity with God

• Now that we understand the nature of

…

Continuing with the topic of Disciple making from last week, when it comes to being a disciple of Jesus Christ…….

1. Jesus must come first

• Made strikingly clear by Jesus Himself – (Luke 14:25-26)
• Before anyone else – (Matthew 10:34-37)
• Even before one’s own self – (Luke 9:23-25)
• They left their business and family – (Matthew 4:20-22)
• As Peter would say later – “we have left all and followed You” – (Matthew 19:27)
• Jesus requires the same for us today – (Matthew 6:33)

2. Willing to suffer for Christ

• Taking up our own

…

June 9th, 2023

The marks of a disciple of Christ are seen in one who……

1. Abides in Jesus’ words

• Note what Jesus said to those who believed in Him – (John 8:31)
• This would imply being a diligent student of the teachings of Christ
• It also requires one to be a “doer” of the Word – (Matthew 7:21-27) (James 1:21-25)

2. Loves the brethren

• Consider what Jesus said to His followers – (John 13:34-35)
• With a love patterned after the love of Jesus – “as I have loved you”
• With a love that is visible

…

June 8th, 2023

Through faith people such as these Joshua and David subdued nations. Joshua, conquering Palestine (Joshua 12:7-24). David, conquering neighboring nations (2 Samuel 5:4-25) (8:1-14). David worked righteousness (administered justice) as king (2 Sam 8:15….So David reigned over all Israel; and David administered judgment and justice to all his people. Solomon, as king, did the same (1 Kings 3:28….And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice. Others …

(John 14:26)…..”But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. You can’t find a teacher like this in the world. The Holy Spirit is the only teacher that knows everything by the way. Can you imagine what He wants to teach to those who belong to Christ Jesus? What a wonderful, magnificent, long-suffering, loving, gentle, kind, patient, teacher the Holy Spirit is! He (the Holy Spirit) has no limits …

Did you know that the Bible tells you to imitate God? Really, it does!

It tells us be imitators of God, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. That is exactly what Jesus has done for us. Just as earthly children imitate their parents, children of God are supposed to imitate their Heavenly Father. In what way are we to imitate God? Should we try to create planets? people? …