This week, I struggled with what to present. It was a rough week for me…just personally, it was rough. And I needed something to minister to this weary, beat-up soul. I found this teaching by Steven Furtick, and it helped a lot. I hope it ministers to you too.
Read Matthew 13:1-9
Listen to the video again.
What speaks to you the most about this message and passage?
What are you learning from God right now?
I’ve been focused a lot lately on God’s actual words. We see them throughout scripture in certain places, and I believe that they’re put there for a reason! We are meant to learn something from them, pay extra attention, and leave the interaction changed.
I’m preparing a sermon for the end of the month called “Fight Like a Christian”, and I believe that God is going to do some spectacular, miraculous things on that weekend, but that it’s going to be a fight to get there.
In Exodus, we see the nation of Israel also experiencing some spectacular, miraculous things from God, but it was definitely a fight to get there.
Read Exodus 1-15
What can we learn from the Israelites story here?
Write down all of God’s words to the Israelites as you read. Do you feel like God is saying any of them to you, today?
What meant the most to you in this passage?
If you didn’t make it to Bold & Brave, watch this:
The kind of sermon I usually preach has little to do with fear. In fact, I spent most of my life fighting AGAINST fear and teaching myself self-confidence and boldness. 1 John 4:18, “Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.”
It’s true that God loves you...unconditionally. But his blessings are conditional. If you want to walk in the blessing of God--you have to be obedient.
But just like any good parent, God does use discipline to bring us back into line, and if we aren't coming back, throughout the ages, he has used more extreme methods. We have to trust that our creator God is the best judge of us, and give him the proper respect he's due. Healthy fear of God is a good thing.
God is a judge. He created heaven & earth and has all authority to do what HE deems necessary to fix it. We need to trust Him and obey Him.
This week, let's study the following passages:
