Church Blog (Page 59)

  DISCUSSION:             Words are a powerful tool.  God created us to respond to the power of words.  Through His words we learn how to live a life following God.  God’s words are powerful enough to change lives.  Each time you open your mouth you can choose to speak words that will help others know how valuable they are or how worthless you think they are.  If we are children of God, he has given us the mission to…

  DISCUSSION:           Have you ever been in the people pleaser pit?  Many times we are so caught up in pleasing man than pleasing God.  We get so worried about the opinions of others we constantly want to please them.  God hasn’t given you the impossible task of making everyone like you.  But he has asked you to follow him, paying careful attention to what he has called you to do.  When you seek to please God instead of people,…

  DISCUSSION:           Imagine being able to watch the apostle Paul in action.  How did he treat people, especially those who often failed?  In 1 Thessalonians, Paul gives us a glimpse of how he treated others: “We were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.”  The apostles also reminded the early church of Jesus’ gentleness: “By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you” (2 Corinthians 10:1).   Gentleness means being kind, tender, mild- mannered…

  DISCUSSION:           Where do you find happiness?  What determines your happiness every day?  True happiness isn’t found in having something, doing something, or being something.  Being happy is a choice.  Every day you have to choose if you’re going to let problems and stressful situations you face get you down.  If you wait till all your problems and stress go away to be happy, you’ll be waiting a long time.  You can choose to enjoy your life.  Jesus died…

  DISCUSSION: They say that how you spend the first ten minutes of your morning sets the tone for the entire day.  Looking for God in these first few minutes has the power to open our eyes to His presence as we walk through each hour of our day.  It doesn’t take long to realize how many blessings he has given us and we should always be thankful.  I challenge you to take the 10 blessings in 10 minutes challenge…

  DISCUSSION: Today’s devotional is simple.  It is this single verse… “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord”, Psalm 122.1.  What a wonderful thought!  This can be the single, most wonderful thing at the end of a long week.  Tomorrow we get to start a new, fresh week by worshipping the Creator of the universe.  We get to start a new, fresh week by fellowshipping with our Christian family.  As…

  DISCUSSION: No one plans to be a failure.  Samson didn’t know that God had departed from him.  He had left God a long time ago.  The redeeming thing is that Samson turned back to God.  This is the only recorded time that Samson prays to God.  And, this is a lot of the reason that he’s found in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11.  “And what more shall I say?  For the time would fail me to tell…

  DISCUSSION: Carelessness weakens our lives.  The strength of Samson wasn’t in his hair.  It was in his commitment to God.  His hair was a representation of his commitment to God.  He forgot his Nazirite vows.  He toyed with temptation.  Delilah, in Judges 16, “…pestered him daily… so that his soul was vexed to death.” (Biblical proof that spousal nagging works?)  She simply agreed with the Philistines to try to find out his strength for 1100 shekels (that’s 25,000 to…

  DISCUSSION: Bitterness will weaken your life.  Samson lived in bitterness, anger, discontentment, and rage. In the book of Judges, we see Samson was not an act-or, he was a re-act-or.  They hurt me first, so I did this to them.  Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:38-39: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’  But I tell you not to resist an evil person.  But whoever slaps you on…

  DISCUSSION: It has been said that a person with great strengths also has great weaknesses.  Samson is the epitome of that statement.  Judges 13:24 says, “So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.”  Samson had the potential to be a superstar, but he let little things creep in and take over his heart.  Self-indulgence will weaken your life.  Anything left out of control will weaken you spiritually. …

  DISCUSSION: The decision was made before Samson was born that he would observe the Nazirite vow (Numbers 6:1-21).  He was to separate himself from certain things and aspects of everyday life.  Now, even though a Nazirite was to separate themselves from these things, they were all around him (i.e., grapes, wine, dead bodies, etc.)  Much like when Jesus prayed for His disciples in John 17:15: “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but…

              DISCUSSION: Our hearts are reflected by the lives we live. This week we have spent time talking about getting out of spiritual bankruptcy. Reflect back on your week and think about the steps you have taken to work on growing spiritually. The week is not over yet! If you have missed any devos, go back and study them now. Remember, we can’t do it by ourselves and focusing on God is key!   Prayer Requests: ____________________________________________________________