God’s Abundance: Steadfastness (#920)
Today we’ll continue our series on God’s Abundance and we’ll talk about the abundance of God’s steadfastness.  God is very, very steadfast; He is very reliable.  One of the things we heard in manifestations today was God said: “I am the one you can always count on.”  And that is great,  Because as we’ve talked about many times in fellowship, we love people, we work with them, we expect the best from them, but sometimes people fall short.  Either because they don’t care or because they try very hard but just can’t seem to figure out how to come through for you.  Either way, God’s the one you can always count on.  So with people, we do the best we can and we enjoy them the best we can, but ultimately God is the one we can always count on; as Mary-Rose and Brian prayed for and we heard in manifestations.  So we’ll talk about God’s steadfastness, we’ll read a bunch of verses talking about God being steadfast and we’ll also read some verses about believers, people, being steadfast.  God is encouraging us to be steadfast, because we are to be imitators of God, so there are people who the Bible said were steadfast in their confidence in God and we are encouraged to be steadfast as well.  But the focus, the main focus, today will be on God being steadfast.  So, let’s start in the book of Ruth.  A wonderful believer: Ruth; Joshua, Judges, Ruth…
As taught by Bruce Mahone on 20170528, all rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Ruth                                   She was steadfastly minded (determined) [1:18]
Daniel 6                             He is the living God, and steadfast for ever (vs. 26)
Psalm 13:5-6                     I have trusted in thy steadfast love
Psalm 18:46-50                God shows steadfast love to his anointed, and to his seed forevermore
Psalm 23                           Surely goodness and steadfast love (vs. 6) shall follow me
Psalm 107:1                     O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his mercy (steadfast love) endures forever
Psalm 108:1-6, 12-13      Your mercy (steadfast love, lovingkindness) is great above (higher than) the heavens and thy truth (faithfulness) reaches to the clouds (skies) (vs. 4)
Psalm 112:1, 7-8              His heart is fixed (vs 7 – steadfast), his heart is established (vs 8 – steady)
Psalm 136                         Mercy: love (NIV), lovingkindness (ASV), steadfast love (NRSV)
Isa. 26:3-4                         Stayed on thee – steadfast (Expositors Bible Commentary), well stayed, steady (ICC)
Luke 8:15                          Fruit with patience (steadfast perseverance) [by persevering]
Rom. 12:10-14                 Patient in mental pressure, continuing instant in prayer [continuing steadfast, faithful, persevering in prayer]
I Cor. 15:58                      Be ye steadfast unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord
II Thes. 3:5                       Love of God & Patient (steadfast) waiting
I Peter 5:6-9                     Whom resist, steadfast in the faith
Teaching
God’s Abundance: Steadfastness (#920)

God’s Abundance: Love (#919)
We’ll continue our series on God’s abundance today, looking into the abundance of love we get from God, our Father.  There are so many things we’ve looked at in this series that God provides abundantly for us and one of them is His tremendous love.  So that is where we will focus today.  Let’s start in Deuteronomy chapter 7 and in verse 8…
As taught by Bruce Mahone 20170514.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Deut. 7:8         God’s motives
Deut. 23:5       God turned the curse (of Balaam) into a blessing, because He loved
Ps 13:5-6         I have trusted in thy steadfast love
Ps 27:7-14       When my father and mother forsake me the LORD will take me up (vs 10) Wait (qawah) on the LORD and he shall strengthen thine heart (vs 14)
Ps. 36:7-9        How excellent (precious) is thy lovingkindness
Ps 92:1-2         To shew forth (declare) thy lovingkindness in the morning
Ps. 119:165     Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend
Jer. 9:23, 24     He knoweth the Lord which exercises lovingkindness (vs 24)
Jer. 31:3           With lovingkindness He drew us.
Rom. 8:28        All things work together for good
Ro. 8:38, 39     Nothing can separate us
Eph. 1:4-6        Holy and without blame, lovely and acceptable
I Thes. 4:9-12  You are taught of God to love one another (vs. 11 – aspire to lead a quiet life, aspire to live quietly, let it be a point of honor with you to keep calm)
II Tim 4:9-18    All men forsook me, but the Lord stood with me
Teaching
God’s Abundance: Love (#919)

God’s Abundance: Daily Living (#918)
We’ll continue our series on God’s abundance today with Daily Living.  Last time we talked about Eternal Life, which is great. But today we’ll get into to Daily Living, our life on Earth, here.  There are those in Christianity that focus so much on eternal life and the return to the Lord, that they forget about living every day.  And of course there are people that go the other way, where people focus so much on daily living that they forget that the Lord is coming back.   We try to do both.   And as you may have heard me say before, many people like to talk about the joy of eternal life and the return of the Lord.   What was the statement that people used to use?  I can’t remember, but what tried and I came up with was that it is not just eternal life and the return of the Lord, but it is mirth on the Earth from your rebirth.  It is not exactly Biblical, but it worked.   And this was a play on the other phrase on eternal life that I can’t remember right now.  But in any rate, it is mirth on the Earth from your rebirth —  we want to enjoy life every day.  And then have the return of the Lord to look forward to.  So in a day where we are having a super day, we’re just loving life; we just say, this is great and it gets even better when the Lord returns.  On a day when everything is not the way we want it and we are not at all happy with it, then we remember: I’m going to get through this and then the Lord is going to return.  It will be great; either way will be great.  So today is about mirth on the Earth from your rebirth.  We’ll start in Deuteronomy chapter 32…
As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20170430.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Deut. 32:44-47     It is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life
Eccl. 2:24               There is nothing better than … his soul enjoy good in all his labour
Eccl. 5:18               It is good and comely … to enjoy the good of all his labour
John 10:10            I am come that they might have life (zoe) – more than abundantly
Rom 1:16-17        The just shall live (zao) by faith
Rom 6:1-4            Walk in newness of life (zoe)
Rom 8:1-8            To be spiritually minded is life (zoe) and peace (vs. 6)
Rom 12:10-21     Live peacably (eiraneuo) with all men (vs 18)
I Tim 2:1-6           A quiet and peacable life (bios) in all godliness and honesty
Teaching
God’s Abundance – Daily Living (#918)

 

God’s Abundance: Eternal Life (#917)
Welcome to Resurrection Sunday.  How great it is that our whole society and large chunks of the world, including our country, seems to take a day off to remember and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I think that is wonderful.  Its good stuff, even if there are people where their ony connection to Christianity in going to chuch on Chirstmas and Easter; we’ll thats something.  At least they a little bit of some version of the Word of God and they do remember the great accomplishments and sacrifice and ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  So we are going to continue our series we’ve been doing for a number of sessions on God’s abundance.  And today, the aspect of God’s abundance we’ll talk about is eternal life.  And you’ve got to realize, we have to admit, that in a lot of ways eternal life trumps every other type.  We’ve already talked about God being abundant and protecting His people, about providing for His people, and helping them in many ways, directing their paths.  These are great ways that God helps, but you have to realize eternal life is great.  I mean, lets talk financial abundance, its wonderful what God can do for you, but whatever He does for you isn’t going to last more than about a hundred years.  But what about the rest of eternity?  Well, that is where the eternal life comes in, where God takes care of us, so I think its the greatest aspect of God’s abundance you could possibly talk about is the eternal life we have and that all started with the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  Yet even before Jesus Christ was on the Earth and carried our his ministry and was raised from the dead, you can read about eternal life in the book of Job, so lets start back there.  Job, Psalms, Proverbs…  Here in Job 19…

As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20170416.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Job 19:25-27:
19:25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
19:26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,
19:27 Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me! (NASB)
Mat. 28:1-10        He is risen
Luke 24:1-8          Why seek ye the living among the dead?
Acts 1:22               A witness of his resurrection
Acts 4:1-4              Being grieved that they preached the resurrection
Acts 4:33               And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of
the Lord  Jesus and great grace was upon them all
Acts 17:16-21       He preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection
Acts 17:31-32      He hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from
the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked
I Thes 4:13-18     Wherefore comfort one another with these words
Teaching
God’s Abundance: Eternal Life (#917)

God’s Abundance: Prosperity (#916)
Today we’ll continue our series on God’s abundance, with the topic of prosperity.  In our previous sessions we’ve seen that God’s Abundance is unlimited, we’ve seen that God provides, now we’re going to focus specifically on prosperity today.  And prosperity has to do not just with — when it is used in the Bible, it does have to to do with obviously financial prosperity, but also has to do with the idea that your works will prosper — that what you do will bring forth positive results.   Sometimes that is measured in money, other times that is measured other ways, but it is success, and that might be a good term in our modern vernacular.  But you’ll see this as we read these records, so let’s go to Genesis 39 and start with Joseph…
As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20170319.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Genesis 39:1-6                 The Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand (vs 3)
Genesis 39:20-23             That which he did, the Lord made it to prosper (vs 23)
Joshua 1:7-8                     Turn not from the commandments, that thou mayest prosper
I Kings 2:1-4                      Walk in his ways that thou mayest prosper (vs 3)
II Kings 18:1-8                   The Lord was with him, and he prospered (vs 7)
II Chronicles 20:20           Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye prosper
II Chronicles 26:1-8          As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper (vs 5)
II Chronicles 31:20-21     To seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered (vs 21)
Psalm 1:1-3                       Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper
Psalm 37:7-11                  Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way
Prov 1:20-33                     The prosperity of fools shall destroy them
Isaiah 54:17                      No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper
Daniel 6:27-28                 This Daniel prospered in the reigns of Darius and Cyrus
III John 2                           That thou mayest prosper and be in health
Teaching
God’s Abundance: Prosperity (#916)

God’s Abundance: God Provides (#915)
Today we are going to continue the series we started last time on God’s abundance.  We’ll have quite a number of these sessions on God’s abundance.  And although we will obviously touch on financial abundance, that is not going to be the only point because God provides us abundance in every area of life and we will look into those.  Last time, we just talked about how God’s abundance is unlimited.  We read Ephesians 3, that says God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think.  We read Isaiah 55, where it says God’s ways are much higher than our ways.  We read in Matthew 26, where Jesus Christ said he could have called twelve legions of angles to save him, but he didn’t.  In Joshua 10, they were fighting and they called on God to keep the sun in the sky so they could finish their battle and be victorious; and God made the sun stand still for many hours.  In Matthew, we read that whatever we ask in prayer, with believing, we receive; and then it is clarified a little bit in I John 4:5, where we read: whatsoever we ask, according to His will, He will answer.  Then we read in Hebrews 4, that we should come boldly unto the throne of grace to find grace to help in time of need.  And then in Matthew 6, where in the beatitudes Jesus Christ talked about, or actually I think it was the sermon on the mount, he said, we are to be anxious for nothing; knowing the God is aware of our every need.  So we’ll continue that today with another session.  Today’s session will be simply about how God provides.  A little of this we covered last week, and some of these verses are so fundamental they’ll come up several weeks.  But we’ll start here on the topic that God Provides.  That is one of the ways He provides abundance.  And we’ll go to Genesis 22….
As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20170305.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Gen. 22:14                    The Lord will see and provide (Jehovahjireh)
Exodus 16:1-15            God gave them quail and “what is it” (manna)
Exodus 17:1-7               God provided water (Meribah = strife, contention)
I Kings 17:1-16               The ravens, then the barrel of meal fed Elijah
II Kings 4:1-7                  God provided through the vessels of oil
Mat. 14:13-21                5000 men were fed, plus women and children
Mat. 15:29-39                4000 men were fed, plus women and children
Mat. 16:5-12                  Jesus Christ was trying to get them to see beyond food
Mat. 17:24-27                God provided the tax money, so they could continue with God’s Word
II Cor. 9:8                        God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work
Phil. 4:19                         My God shall supply all your need
Acts 11:27-30                 Agabus prophesied, so the need was supplied before it arose
Acts 16:6-10                   The Macedonian call – God provided needed direction, so His Word could bring deliverance to those hungry for it
Teaching
God’s Abundance: God Provides (#915)

 

God’s Abundance: Unlimited (#914)
As announced, we’re going to start a new series today on God’s abundance.  And we we’ll talk about finances, but there are many, many other areas in life where God has great abundance in addition to just finances. 
Today, for our first session on God’s abundance, we’re basically going to talk about how unlimited God is.  How He doesn’t have the constraints you and I have. 
We are very statistics driven in our society and there is nothing wrong with that.  People for instance, in financial markets say the average return on investments is ten percent a year since 1902.  And they figure, OK, if the average is ten you might go up 20 or 30 one year, but you’re probably not going to go up 800 percent in one year.  The average is ten percent.  And this applies to other things.  For instance, we’re in the middle of many changes in our nation’s capital.  And everybody is going to throw statistics around to support their points of view.  And again, they are limited.  People want to lower taxes, but you can’t take them below zero.  And you can’t go past one hundred percent.  You have limits.  It is the same thing with this and that: there are limits everywhere in this world we can’t go beyond.  Even in space travel, no matter how quick they go (even on Star Trek) you can’t go past the speed of light.  Today, we have a hard time with our aircraft going a few times the speed of sound in our fighter jets (and we’re pretty good at that).  But we haven’t gotten a fighter jet anywhere near the speed of light.  And I can’t remember exactly remember the numbers, but if you go Mach three, which is three times the speed of sound — I think you are still only going at one or two percent of the speed of light.  It is a really small fraction, it is just totally different.  The point is… the point in this whole long story is there are limits in everything we do as people.  You know when I was running in high school and I was very happy to break a five minute mile, which was the record at my high school.  But then at that time there were only a few people that could run a four minute mile.  Now, as I understand, most colleges will have a runner that can run a four-minute mile.  But still, nobody’s broken the three minute mile.  And nobody’s ever going to break the two minute mile.  It is just that there are limits you see, in everything you do.  Except with God.  And that is the whole point of today’s session and the reason scriptures indicate that God is not bound by the limits you and I have.  We all do have limits, but we need not worry about our limits, we need not stress over our limits, we need not get negative about our limits, we just need to accept as people we can only do so much.  In any area of life… I just gave a few examples, but this applies in any area of life — we have limits.  But God does not.  So, all we do is do the best we can within the limits we have to abide within.  But then pray that God will do way beyond what our limitations are. 
Just because you and I have limitations doesn’t mean that God has limitations.  So, here we go, Ephesians chapter three in verse 20….
As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20170226.  All Rights Reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Eph. 3:20                     God is able to do exceeding abundantly above
Isa 55:8-12                  God’s ways are higher than our ways
Mat. 26:52                   Jesus could have called twelve legions of angels
Josh. 10:1-14               God listened to a man and kept the sun high in the sky
Mat. 21:22                   Whatever we ask in prayer, believing, we shall receive
I John 5:14-15             Whatever we ask according to his will, he hears us
Heb. 4:15-16               Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace
Mat. 6:24-34               We are anxious for nothing, knowing that God is aware of our every need
Teaching
God’s Abundance: Unlimited (#914)

A

Prayer: Prayer and Peace (#913)
We’ve been having a series on prayer and we are just planning a fellowship weekend the end of March/the beginning of April, on Stayed Mind and the Peace of God; so I thought I’d have a little segue here where we’ll talk about prayer and peace.  And by the way, this will be the last teaching in our series on prayer.  Then I’m going to start another series on the abundance of God.  Where we’ll be talking about how God, in every single area of life, provides abundantly.  Whatever the area of life is that you may have a concern or need, God is there and God can provide, not only what you need, but much more.  So, we’ll go into the abundance of God starting next time.  But today, we’ll wrap up our series of many weeks on prayer.  And this will be a bit of a segue into our class on Stayed Mind and the Peace of God, which we’ll have at our fellowship weekend, in about six weeks.  And several of the verses, because of other things they cover, we would have already talked about in this series on prayer; but some of them we haven’t.  So let’s get started here; let’s start in Psalm 37 and in verse 7…
Taught by Bruce Mahone 20170212, all rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Ps. 37:7-11           The meek shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace
Ps. 37:34-40         The end of the perfect man is peace (vs. 34 – wait: expect)
Ps. 119:165           Great peace have they which love thy law
Prov. 3:1-6            God’s commandments add peace (vs. 2)
Prov. 3:13-18        All the paths of wisdom are peace
Isa. 26:3-4             Perfect peace whose mind is stayed (steadfast, steady)
Isa. 32:17              The work (achievement) of righteousness shall be peace
Isa. 48:18              Peace like a river
John 14:25-27       Not as the world gives
Rom. 5:1                Being justified by believing, we have peace with God, so how do we get that peace in our hearts?
Rom. 15:13           Joy & peace in believing
Rom. 8:6               Think spiritually, not thoughts of the senses
Phil. 4:6, 7            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
Col. 3:15-16    Let the peace of God rule [be an umpire, decide, determine, direct, control] in your hearts
Teaching
Prayer: Prayer and Peace (#913)

Prayer: Prayer and Seeking (#912)
Well, we’ve been having a great series on prayer; covering many aspects of it: prayer with believing; prayer with desire; prayer with knowing what you can chose and what has already been chosen for you — a lot of fun little topics.  Today we’ll talk about prayer in the context of seeking God.  This is something we looked at a couple of years ago, but today we’ll look at it specifically from the context of prayer.  And we’ll start in Deuteronomy chapter 4.  Because some people think that they just pray and pray and pray and nothing happens or ever will happen; yet God is very clear that He is there and if we seek Him we’ll find Him.  So here we are in Deuteronomy chapter 4 and in verse 23…
Taught by Bruce Mahone on 20170129.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Deut. 4:23-31           If you seek the Lord, you will find him (vs. 29)
I Chron. 16:10-12     Seek the LORD and his strength
Psalm 9:9-10             Thou hast not forsaken them that seek thee
Psalm 34:10             The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing
Psalm 34:22              None of them that trust [Heb. Chasa: seek refuge, flee for protection, put trust in, confide or hope in] in him shall be desolate [guilty, offended]
Psalm 63                    Early [diligently] will I seek thee (vs. 1).
Marrow & fatness (vs. 5): the richest of foods (NIV), a rich feast (NRSV)
A portion for foxes (vs. 10): food for jackals
Prov. 8:12-21            Those that seek me (wisdom) early [diligently] shall find me (vs. 17)
Jer. 29:10-14              Ye shall seek me and find me (vs. 13)
Matt. 7:7-8                 Seek, and ye shall find (vs. 7)
Col. 3:1-3                    Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth (vs. 1)
Heb. 13:14                 Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come
Teaching
Prayer: Prayer and Seeking (#912)

Prayer: Prayer and Desire (#911)
Today we’re going to talk about prayer and desire and we’ll start in Psalm 37 verse 4….
As taught by Bruce Mahone 20170117, all rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes

Psalm 37:4                   Delight thyself in the Lord…he shall give the desires of thine heart
Jer 42:1-17                    That the Lord thy God may show us the way wherein we may walk                                                (vs. 3.  cf. Jer. 44:15-19, whatsoever goeth forth out or our mouth)
Luke 22:39-44              Remove this cup from me…not my will, but thine, be done (vs. 42)
Acts 16:6-15                 Forbidden (koluo) of the Holy Ghost…Macedonian call
Acts 20:7-21:36            What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? (Acts 21:13)
Rom 1:8-13                   I purposed (determined) to come unto you, but was let (koluo -forbidden, hindered, prevented)
Col 4:2-3                        Praying…that God would open unto us a door of utterance
James 4:13-15               Ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that
Teaching
Pray and Desire (#911)