God’s Abundance: Delight (#930)
We’ll continue our series on God’s abundance today, looking at the great delight we have. Again, as with so many things in life, everybody is delighted about something. But some people have a very limited number of things they are delighted about and limited periods of time in which they are
delighted. And they spend the rest of the time being worried or upset about something. But God is very delighted in us; He has an abundance of delight in us and we can have an abundance of delight in God. And, as you’ll see as we go through this — and we’ve looked at some of these scriptures in the past, but we’re looking at it today from the point of view of abundance; that our lives can be filled with an abundance of being delighted about life. Just every day, every minute, there is something to be delighted about if we chose to. There is also plenty to get us upset. But there is plenty to be delighted about and a great thing we’ll see as we get into God’s word is that as we’re delighted in the things of God, God blesses us. So it doesn’t matter what anybody else says or does. And if you really want to read a great historical record of somebody who was a master of this, there is a book called
“Delighted in God” by Roger Spear about a fella, a minister of the Gospel, that lived around 1900’ish, in England named George Mueller. And, it might have been earlier, it might have been the 1880s, but it was around 1900 sometime. And it was a very tough time in England; the industrial revolution
was well under way, people were moving out of the villages and into the cities, parents were dying in factory accidents there were literally orphans on the street, just wandering. We’re use to some homeless people in our cities, but they are generally adults. Can you imagine being in a city where
on every corner there were 20, five year old kids, with nowhere to live and no food? That is way it was in parts of England. So he just felt that God put it on his heart to help the orphans, so he prayed and he had a rule that he never asked anybody for anything; he told God what he needed. And he prayed
and God just did unbelievable things. He went from nothing from having this huge; I’ve seen pictures of it, it looks like a huge college campus with a bunch of large brick dormitories. Very large. And he got staff, and he got the orphans fed and educated, and got jobs, and the thing that was great was
that he always looked to God. There are great records which we may have talked about before, or you may have read about where they assembled all the kids in dining room, hundreds of kinds for breakfast, and there was no food.  But they would bring them in, at seven-o-clock we have breakfast, sit down and God is going to provide. And as they were sitting down a truck would roll up with fresh bread. And the baker would say, I tried to sleep last night, but God woke me up and told me to make a truck full of bread and take to the orphanage. And there was food. And there are just page after page of things like that happening. And now, not that we should all go start orphanages, but what you learn is if you simply look to God and trust God, God will do great things. Our problem is there are always circumstances in the world that want to hold us back, there are people, there are circumstances, we have shortcomings, we have areas where we are not as strong, there are areas where we don’t accomplish what we want to, other people do things to make life difficult for us, but the great thing you learn in looking at the scriptures and by reading a book like “Delighted in God” is that God is bigger than all those circumstances. Don’t deny that those circumstances exist, but God is bigger. And God can do more, we just have to look to Him and get delighted in God. So, it will be a fun time today, I’m very excited about reading these scriptures. And they’ll apply, and the other thing you’ve got to realize is they’ll apply to each of us a little differently. George Mueller, his, the thing God put on his heart was to start orphanages. You know, you might want to survive tomorrow without smacking anybody, because people are being so meanto you, you really want to smack them, but you can’t. It might be coming up on the first of the month and you might be concerned with coming up with enough money to pay the rent. That may be your issue. We’ll God will come through for you. We all have issues, we all have challenges, and whatever it is you need to do, where ever it is you need help from God, get delighted about God, get delighted about His ability to help you, and focus on Him. You can’t really ignore the situations around you, but you don’t have to focus on tit, you don’t have to dwell on it, you don’t have to fixate on it. You know like when I’m driving and there is a lot of traffic, a lot of potholes; I can’t ignore it, its there, but I don’t have to site there and get all bummed
out and be miserable because there is traffic. You just see the light at the end of the tunnel, I’ll get through the traffic, when I pull through it, and it has happened every time so far.. It is like when I’m at a swimming pool and there is a bunch of people and the lifeguard looks really nervous, I walk by
and say: don’t worry, I’ve never drowned in a swimming pool. Sometimes they smile, usually they don’t. But the thing is, and the same with traffic, I’ve been in traffic a gazillion times, like you have, but I’ve always gotten though it, I’m still here, it hasn’t killed me yet and I don’t expect it to. At any
rate, on we go: God’s Abundance: Delight, let’s start in Psalm 1…
As taught by Bruce Mahone 20171029.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Psalms 1:1-3              His delight is in the law of the Lord
Psalms 37:3-5            Delight thyself also in the Lord
Psalms 37:11             Delight themselves in abundance of peace
Psalms 37:23             The Lord delighteth in the way of a good man
Psalms 40:1-8            I delight to do thy will, O my God
Psalms 43:4               God my exceeding joy (NLT: the source of all my joy; NIV: my joy and my delight; lit: gladness of my joy)
Psalms 94:17-19, 22  Thy comforts delight my soul
Psalms 112:1-8           Blessed is the man that delighteth greatly in his commandments
Psalms 119:16            I will delight myself in thy statutes
Psalms 119:24            Thy testimonies are my delight
Psalms 119:33-35       I delight in thy commandments
Psalms 119:46-47       I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved
Psalms 119:69-70       I delight in thy law
Psalms 119:77             Thy law is my delight
Psalms 119:92,93        Unless thy law had been my delights, I should have perished in my affliction
Psalms 119:143           Thy commandments are my delight
Psalms 119:174           Thy law is my delight
Proverbs 15:8               The prayer of the upright is his delight
Jeremiah 9:23-24          In these things I delight, saith the Lord
Teaching
God’s Abundance: Delight (#930)

God’s Abundance: Vision (#929)
We’ll continue our series today on God’s Abundance. We’ve seen so many things that God offers us, not just in small amounts, but in great abundance.  And today we’re going to talk about vision. Vision: vision being a positive outlook for your life. You have to have a vision, you have to have a goal, you have to have sort of that direction you’re going.  Otherwise there is that story about somebody at the airport; and if you are at the airport and you don’t care what your destination is you can take any flight. It doesn’t matter. Well, we have clear vision from God; God has clear ideas about how are lives can work and how we can move forward in everything in life, and we’ll be looking into that today. So, here we are; let’s go to II Kings 6…
As taught by Bruce Mahone 20171015, All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
II Kings 6:8-23          Chariots of fire — Raise your vision for your life
Psalm 60:11-12       Through God we shall do valiantly: for he shall tread down our enemies
Psalm 91                  1000, 10,000 shall fall, but it shall not come nigh thee (vs. 7)
Proverbs 16:3          Commit(roll) your works unto the Lord, and your thoughts shall be established
Proverbs 28:1          The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion
Proverbs 29:18        Where there is no vision (divine communication), the people perish (wander): but he that keepeth the law, happy is he
Eccl. 9:4                     For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope [986 — bittachown — trust, confidence, hope]
Jer. 17:7                     Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope [4009 — mibtach — trust, confidence, refuge] the LORD is
Daniel 6:1-23            Daniel prayed, survived the lion’s den
Daniel 11:32             The people that do know their God shall be strong (stand firm) and do exploits (take action)
Romans 8:31-39       Nothing shall separate us from the love of God!
II Cor. 4:(1-)18           Look not at those things which are seen
Phil. 3:3                     Worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, have no confidence in the flesh
Col. 3:1-3                   Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth (vs. 1)
II Tim. 4:16-18          At my first answer [defense] no man stood with me.
The Lord stood with me…shall deliver me from every evil work.
Teaching
God’s Abundance: Vision (#929)

God’s Abundance: Persistence (#926)
Good morning, we’ll continue today with our series on God’s Abundance. We’ve seen that God has abundance available for us in many, many ways. And today we’re going to talk about persistence. God is abundantly persistent to be there to supply our needs, to direct our paths, to give us the desires of our hearts, to protect us in every way. And, as the result, we need to be abundantly persistent in our prayers, and our looking to God. We hear stories all the time about people that are persistent. Think of some of the stories we’ve heard: what, did Abraham Lincoln lose the first five elections he was in? And I think the first one he won, was to be President. Something like that. And there are other people that you read about, like great football coaches: that guy that was the famous coach of the Greenbay Packers forever, I can’t remember his name. But he just failed and failed and failed, and then all of the sudden he was coaching a team that went on to beat everybody in the country for years. And not that we’re all looking for failure, but we all have challenges, we all have some successes and failures. And the people that tend to succeed are people that just persist. If they have successes, they keep at it and get more successes. No matter how many failures they may have, they don’t care, they look beyond it, and they move ahead. And so we know this even in the business world, we know it in the sports world, we know it in the political world, and how much greater when we have God promises. That was just people with their own determination, and you can do an awesome lot with your own determination. But imagine when you add the blessing of God and the power of God in there. Then you can go way, way beyond what somebody with their own persistence can do. Some we’ll be reading about how God wants us to be abundantly persistent when we go there. Because He is abundantly persistent to take care of us, so He wants us to be abundantly persistent as well. So, let’s start in Luke chapter 18…
As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20170820.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Luke 18:1-8          Men ought always to pray, and not to faint
Gen. 18:20-33      Abraham reasoned with God about Sodom’s destruction
II Kings 4:18-37   He walked in the house to and fro…child sneezed seven times
I Kings 18:41-45  Elijah prayed, and it rained – James 5:17-18
Mark 8:22-25       Men as trees walking
Rom. 1:8-13          I purposed (determined) to come unto you, but was let (forbidden)
Col. 4:1-4               Praying…that God would open unto us a door of utterance (vs. 3)
Rom. 12:10-14      Patient in mental pressure, continuing instant [steadfastly, faithful, persevering, be constant] in prayer (vs. 12)
Teaching
God’s Abundance: Persistence (#926)

God’s Abundance: Patience (#925)
Today we’ll continue our series on God’s Abundance, with looking at the the concept of Patience.  God has great patience with us, and as a result we need to have great patience, being imitators of God: we need to patient with ourselves, with other people, and mostly on waiting on the Lord and expecting Him to take care of us, and in not getting impatient about that.  Patience is a great topic, I had a friend the other day that said: “One doctor said another one, thank you for your patience” … I wasn’t there so I’m not sure the guy laughed of not.  But in any rate, lets start in Psalms 37…
Verse Listing and Notes
Psalms. 37:7       Rest in the Lord [be still, silent before the Lord]; Wait patiently for him
Psalms. 40:1       I waited (with expectation) [patiently and expectantly] and he heard
Eccl. 7:8-10         Better is the patient than the proud in spirit (disposition). [patience is better than pride]
Luke 8:15            Fruit with patience (steadfast perseverance) [by persevering]
(Luke 21:5-19     In your patience possess ye your souls)
Rom. 5:2-5          Patience leads to [brings about, produces] hope, which maketh not ashamed
Rom. 12:10-14    Patient in mental pressure [continuing steadfast, faithful, persevering in prayer]
Rom. 15:1-6        Patience and comfort of the scriptures [through patient endurance and the encouragement drawn from the scriptures]; the God of patience.
2 Cor. 6:1-10       In MUCH patience
2 Cor, 12:11-13   In ALL patience
Eph. 4:1-6             Walk worthy of the calling wherewith you were called.
Vs. 2: With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing (holding up) one another in love (NRSV+)
Col. 1:9-11            Strengthened unto all patience with joyfulness
1 Thes. 1:3            Patience of (proceeding from) hope
1 Thes. 5:14-15    Be patient toward all
2 Thes. 1:3-4         We glory for your patience and believing
2 Thes. 3:1-5         The Lord direct into patient waiting for [patience of] Christ
Heb. 12:1               Let us run with patience [patient endurance] the race before us
As taught by Bruce Mahone 20170806.  All rights reserved.
Teaching
God Abundance: Patience (#925)

God’s Abundance: Your Future (#924)

Good morning.  We will continue our series today on God’s abundance.  As we’ve seen in the last number of sessions; God has tremendous abundance.  Abundance of righteousness, abundance of an ability to call on him, abundance of financial supply; in just every part of life, God has abundance.  What we’re going to talk about today is God has great abundance as far as plans for our future.  Some people get very worried about their future, they maybe rely on one thing and if that one thing doesn’t come through, they figure: we’ll that’s it: that didn’t happen, so I have nothing good to look forward to.  Or maybe they had only one or two things, they had like two options, and if they don’t work out, we’ll they’re toast.  Whereas, the reality is God has an abundance of great things in store for us; in the near term and in the far term.  And it is important to know that and be aware of the huge abundance God has for our future.  So we’re going to cover a number of different verses, looking at this from different angles today.  Let’s start in Jeremiah 29…
As taught by Bruce Mahone 20170723.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Jer. 29:11-13              An expected end [NRS – a future with hope – 3615, tiqvah – hope, expectation, grounds for hope](vs. 11)
                                    “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (vs. 11 – NIV)
I Tim 1:1                     Lord Jesus Christ our hope
Col 1:3-5                     For the hope which is laid up (NIV: stored up) for you in heaven – vs. 5
I Pet 1:3-5                   Begotten us again unto a lively hope be the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead – vs. 3
Rom 5:3-5                   Knowing that tribulation worketh patience
This doesn’t mean, of course, that we have only a hope of future joys – we can be full of joy here and now even in our trials and troubles.  Taken in the right spirit these very things will give us a patient endurance; this in turn will develop a mature character, and a character of this sort produces a steady hope, a hope that will never disappoint us. (JBP)
I Kings 21:18-29         Ahab was wicked, but humbled himself (vs. 29)
II Kings 20:1-11         Hezekiah sick unto death, prayed, and healed (vs. 7)
Acts 20:7-21:36          Paul went to Jerusalem against the will of the Lord
Acts 23:11                   And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer,
Acts 24:27                   But after two years Porcius Festus left Paul bound.
Acts 25:10                   Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar’s judgment seat
Acts 27:23-24             For there stood by me this night the angel of God, Saying, Fear not, Paul;
Acts 28:23                   He expounded and testified the kingdom of God concerning Jesus
Acts 28:30-31             And Paul dwelt two whole years preaching the kingdom of God
2 Tim. 4:16                   Nevertheless, the Lord stood with me
Teaching
God’s Abundance: Your Future (#924)

God’s Abundance: Call Upon Him (#923)
Good morning, as you can tell from our web site, we’ve been going trough a series of sessions on God’s abundance.  And the focus is on (and I don’t know if we’ll hit all of them) at least some of the many, many ways that God has great abundance for us.  The obvious way is our fiancial abundance, but there are so many other ways where He has just lots and lots of abundance for us.  What we’ll talk about today is we have the abundant opportunity to call on Him at any time.  Some people think thay can only call on God when they’re hanging by their finger nail off the end of a cliff or when their on their last nickle and about to starve to death, or when they’re being attacked by vulcans, for you Star-Trek fans.  But of course none of that is true; we can, and should call on the name of the Lord at all times.  He wants us to.  Think of a young child, a very young child, that really can’t do anything without his mother, or some other nice person taking care of him.  That is the way we are; we are God’s kids.  He didn’t call us Titans or anything; we’re  His kids.  We need God’s help, we need God’s support, we need His direction; in all that we do.  And He will always be ther for us.  So, it is appropriate that we call on the name of the Lord at all times.  So, let’s get started.  And there are a couple of other words that are very similar in context: crying unto to the Lord, seeking the Lord, we’ll see a few of those pop up here, but we’re going to focus on “calling on the Lord.”  Let’s start in I Samuel chapter 12…

As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20170709.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
I Sam 12:1-12             They cried (called) on the Lord, and dwelled safe (vs. 10-11)
II Sam 22:1-4               I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised (vs. 4)
Psalm 17:6-7               I have called, for thou wilt hear
Psalm 63:1                   Early will I seek thee
Psalm 86:5-7               In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: thou wilt answer me (vs. 7)
Jer. 29:10-14                Ye shall call upon me and I will hearken unto you (vs. 12)
Ye shall seek me and find me (vs. 13)
Hosea 7                       No one called upon the Lord (vs. 7)  No one cried unto Him (vs. 14)
I Cor. 1:2                      To all that call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord
Teaching
God’s Abundance: Call on Him (#923)

God’s Abundance: Righteousness (#922)
Good morning. We’re going to continue our series on God’s Abundance today. As you can see from the web site, we’ve covered a number of topics where God just doesn’t give us things, He gives us lots of them, and we’re going to talk today about God’s Righteousness and how unbelievably abundant His Righteousness is towards us. As you know in much of Christianity, they will tell you you are righteous through Christ and then give you a big long list of things to do to earn your Righteousness. And, if you do one thing they don’t like then they tell you you are not righteous anymore — that is a common occurrence. Well, as we’ll see in the scriptures, as many of you have read, already: that is not the way God operates. God makes us righteous and we are righteous: absolutely, 100%, not through our works, but through the work of Jesus Christ. But, getting that into our heads: that we are really righteous, and living that every day can take a little more mental effort, but the righteousness itself is completely paid for.  There is nothing you could do to not be righteous before God. And before I start, let me say that the two words: righteousness and justification, come from the same Greek word. Because Jesus Christ justified us, the result is we are righteous. It is like if you clean the dishes, the dishes would be clean. That is the same verb, but in English we have two different words. We are justified, means to be made righteous. So you’ll see the word justified and the word righteousness show up. And the word justified is interesting, people have come up with cute little puns about it, like: “to be justified is just as if I never sinned,” and it is true because Jesus Christ has paid for our sins. And righteousness is a word that William Tyndale came up with when he was making one of the first translations of the Bible into English. He came up with it because he felt when you’re righteous, you’re basically right with God: there is no conflict between you. We know what it means to be right with a person: when you get along, when you see eye to eye; there is no disagreement. And we also know what is like to not be in right with somebody: and have big disagreements, and fights, and arguments. We’ll when it comes to us and God, we are right with God. Not through our works, but through the work of Jesus Christ. So because we’ve been justified, we are right with God. So you’ll see the word justified and the work righteousness show up over and over today. Let’s start in Deuteronomy chapter six….
As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20170625.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Deut. 6:25                 It shall be our righteousness if we observe to do
Prov. 28:1                  The righteous are bold as a lion
Prov. 18:10                The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe
Isaiah 32:17               The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever
Acts 13:39                   Justified from all things that you could not be justified by the law
Romans 3:20 ff          By the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified (vs. 20)
Romans 4:1-5            Faith counted for righteousness (vs. 5)
Romans 5:1-8            Justified by faith (vs. 1)
Romans 10:9, 10      Believeth unto righteousness.
I Cor. 1:30                  Christ Jesus is made unto us righteousness.
II Cor. 5:21                 That we might be made the righteousness of God.
Gal, 2:16                     A man is not justified by the works of the law
Gal. 2:21                     I do not frustrate the grace of God – if righteousness is by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Gal, 3:11                    The just shall live by faith
Phil. 3:9                     Righteousness through the believing of Jesus Christ.
Heb. 4:16                  Come boldly to the throne of grace (cf. vss. 14-15)
Righteousness is the God-given justification (freedom from the penalties of sin) whereby a person stands in the presence of God without any consciousness of sin, guilt, or shortcomings.
Because we have been justified, we are righteous.
The whole world is trying to earn righteousness by their own deeds, which they can never do.  We have the joy of walking in the righteousness which he already accomplished for us, by his perfect, accomplished believing as our lord and savior.
Teaching
God’s Abundance: Righteousness (#922)

God’s Abundance: Care (#921)
Good morning!  We’ll contine today with our series today on God’s abundance.  We’ve talked about so many areas where God provides not just a little bit, but a lot, and today we’ll talk about God’s care.  The word care is used in, and obviously, we’re used to that where somebody cares about you, they take care of you, they’re concerned and they do stuff for you.  God does a lot of that for us.  And it is also used another way in the King James Bible in the sense of worrying and being mentally distracted.  What we would call today being stressed out, freaked out, or generally discombobulated.  And the scriptures spend a a lot of time telling us not to worry about stuff.  And the reason we don’t have to worry is because God cares about us.  I mean imagine if you all worried about something that you had to accomplish, but then you realized, wait a minute, there is this other person on my team that is so good and going to take care of everything and I don’t have to worry about it anymore.  I can just sort of let it go, because somebody else has it covered.  We’ll we have that in spades because we have God taking care of us and because God so cares for us that there is really nothing for us to be worried about.  And that’s what we’ll look at today and its in abundance, that is the main thing, because the whole series is on abundance.  Some of these topics we’ve covered before, but we’re gong to cover them from the point of view that God not only takes care of us a little bit, but a lot.  And He has much care for us; so let’s go to Matthew 13….

As taught by Bruce Mahone 20170611.  All right reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Mat. 13:1-9; 18-23    The care (merimna – anxiety, worry, care) of this world can choke God’s Word
Mat. 6:25-34              Take no thought (merimnao – to be apprehensive, have anxiety, be anxious, be (unduly) concerned ) for tomorrow
Luke 10:38-42            Thou art careful (merimnao) and troubled (agitated). One thing is needful
Phil. 4:4-9                    Be anxious for nothing (moderation – gentleness, patience)
Don’t worry over anything whatever; tell God every detail of your needs in earnest and thankful prayer, and the peace of God, which transcends human understanding, will keep constant guard over your hearts and minds as they rest in Christ Jesus – JB Phillips
Philippians 4:6-7   6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  7 If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. – NLT
I Peter 5:6-9                Casting all your mental distraction (merimna) on him, for is is aware (melo) of your needs
Psalm 1                        Meditate on God’s Word
Prov 3:5-6                    He shall direct your paths
Phil. 3:13-16                Reaching forth unto those things which are before
Teaching
God’s Abundance: Care (#921)