Keep Rejoicing (#1041)

Good morning, glad to be here with you again. We met last time on Palm Sunday on the church calendar, this past Sunday was Easter for the Western or Latin Church, and this Sunday, today, when we are meeting is the Orthodox Easter. So, if you have any friends who were Greek Orthodox, they’ll be celebrating. But as we’ve said before, we don’t really notice the church calendar; it says in Colossians not to be observers of days and times and hours, but as I’ve said many times: if the whole world is going to take a day to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I’m all for it. And a good chunk of the world is doing it today.

Well, were going to go back to a topic we’ve talked about other times, but with a little different twist on it, but we’re going to talk about keep rejoicing. We have to work with our minds to continue to rejoice. A lot of people think happiness is based on their circumstances and happiness might be. But the rejoicing is something we can decide to do, God commands it; so, it is something we can decide to do with our minds. We can either sort of grumpily and morosely dwell on problems and difficulties in life, or we can choose to actively rejoice in the things God has done, is doing for us and will continue to do. In a sort of foundational verse to this topic for us today is in Proverbs 4…

Verse Listing and Notes

Proverbs 4:23                    Keep (guard, watch over) thy heart with all diligence

Proverbs 15:13-15             A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance (vs. 13)

He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast (vs. 15)

Proverbs 17:22                  A merry heart doeth good like a medicine

Ecclesiastes8:15                I commended mirth – be merry

Ecclesiastes 9:4-10            Eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart (vs. 7)

Romans 5:1-8                    Rejoice in hope of the glory of God (vs. 2)

Romans 12:9-21                Rejoicing in hope (vs. 12)

Galatians 6:1-4                  Rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another (vs. 4)

Philippians 3:3                   Rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh

Philippians 4:4-9                Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, Rejoice (vs. 4)

I Thessalians 5:16-18         Rejoice evermore (vs. 16)

Teaching

Keep Rejoicing (#1041)

Resurrection and Spirit (#1040)

 

As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20220410.  All rights reserved.

Verse Listing and Notes

Mat. 28:1-10   He is risen

Luke 24:1-8    Why seek ye the living among the dead?

“Cross” not used in Acts

“Crucified” used three times:

Acts 2:22-24 – you crucified, God raised up

Acts 2:36 – you crucified, God made him Lord and Christ

Acts 4:10 – you crucified, God raised from the dead

“Tree” used three times:

Acts 5:30 – God raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree

Acts 10:39-40 – Whom they slew and hanged on a tree; him God raised up

Acts 13:29 – They took him down from the tree; but God raised him from the dead

Resurrection – 10 times in Acts

Raised from the dead – 14 times in Acts

Spirit – 68-70 times in Acts

Acts 1:1-11, 21-22

1. 1. vs. 3 – alive
   2. vss. 4-8 – gift of holy spirit
   3. vs. 9 – ascension
   4. vs.11 – return

Acts 4:1-2, 31-33 – preached resurrection

I Peter 1:3 – lively hope

Teaching

Resurrection and Spirit (#1040)

A Greater Vision (#1039)

 

As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20220327.  All rights reserved

Verse Listing and Notes

II Kings 6:8-23                     Chariots of fire – Raise your vision for your life

Psalms 60:11-12                Through God we shall do valiantly: for he shall tread down our enemies

Psalms 71:1-15                  Thou art my hope (vs. 5), I will hope continually (vs. 14)

Psalms 91                          1000, 10,000 shall fall, but it shall not come nigh thee (vs. 7)

Psalms 146:5                     Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God

Psalms 147:11                   The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy

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

Ecclesiastes 9:4                      For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope

Jeremiah 17:7                       Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is

Jeremiah 29:11-13               An expected end [NRS – a future with hope –  tiqvah – hope, expectation, grounds for hope] (vs. 11)

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 Corinthians 4:(1-)18          Look not at those things which are seen

Philippians 3:3                      Worship God in the spirit, rejoice in CJ, have no confidence in the flesh

Colossians 3:1-3                    Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth (vs. 1)

Teaching

A Greater Vision (#1039)

Love, Love, Love (#1038)

 

As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20220313.  All rights reserved.

Verse Listing and Notes

Deuteronomy 7:8               God’s motives

Jeremiah 31:3                      With lovingkindness He drew us

Luke 15                                 The forgiving father

John 3:16                              God so loved that He gave

Romans 2:4                          The goodness of God

I John 4:17                            In the day of man’s judgement, we have boldness (cf. I Cor. 4:3)

I John 4:18                            There is no fear in the love of God

I John 4:19                            He loved us first

Matthew 22:34-40              First and great commandment: love God, then your neighbor

Matthew 23                         These ought ye to have done, and not left the other undone (vs. 23)

Romans 8:28                       All things work together for good

I John 5:2-3                          For this is the love of God

Teaching

Love, Love, Love (#1038)

Fasting (#1037)

 

As taught by Bruce Mahone 20220305.  All rights reserved.

Verse Listing and Notes

Mark 9:14-29                 This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting (vs. 29)
“and fasting” not found in oldest Greek manuscripts

Matthew 17:14-21        This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting (21)
Entire verse 21 not found in oldest Greek manuscripts

Isa. 58:3-12                    The fast I have chosen – to loose the bands of wickedness…

Background:

Judges 20:26                    All the people went up and fasted that day until even

I Samuel 7:6                    They gathered together and fasted on that day

I Samuel 31:13                They buried the bones and fasted seven days

II Samuel 1:12                 They mourned, wept, and fasted for Saul and Jonathan (cf. I Chron 10:12)

II Samuel 12:16, 21, 23   David fasted,Thou didst fast, weep for the child; wherefore should I fast?

I Kings 21:9,12                 Proclaim a fast; they proclaimed a fast

II Chronicles 20:3           Jehospaphat feared…and proclaimed a fast

Ezra 8:21,23                    Then I proclaimed a fast there, that we might afflict ourselves before God

So we fasted

Nehemiah 1:4                 I sat down and wept and fasted

Nehemiah 9:1                 Israel assembled with fasting

Ester 4:3                          There was great mourning among the Jews and fasting and weeping

Ester 4:16                        Fast for me: I and my maidens will fast likewise

Psalms 53:13                   I humbled my soul with fasting

Psalms 69:10                   I wept and chastened my soul with fasting

Psalms 109:24                 My knees are weak through fasting

Jeremiah 36:6                  The fasting day

Jeremiah 14:12                 When they fast, I will not hear their cry

Jeremiah 36:9                   They proclaimed a fast before the Lord

Daniel 6:18                       The king passed the night fasting

Joel 1:14                           Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly

Joel 2:12                           Turn to me with all your heart and with fasting…weeping…mourning

 Joel 2:15                          Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly

 Jonah 3:5                        So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast

Zechariah c 7:5               When ye fasted…those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me?

Zechariah 8:19                 The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth…

Matthew 4:2                     When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered

Matthew 6:16,18              Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance

Matthew 9:14,15              Why do the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not
(cf. Mark 2:18-20; Luke 5:33-35)

Matthew 15:32                 I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way

Mark 8:3                            If I send them away fasting, they will faint by the way

Luke 18:12                        I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all I possess

Acts 10:30                         Four days ago I was fasting
Oldest texts have praying instead of fasting

Acts 13:2                          As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said…
When they had fasted and prayed…

Act 14:23                         They ordained elders and prayed with fasting

Acts 27:9                         The fast was now already past

Acts 27:33                        This is the fourteenth day that ye have…continued fasting

I Corinthians 7:5           Defraud ye not the other…give yourselves to fasting and prayer

                                          Fasting not in earliest Greek texts

Teaching

Fasting (#1037)

Grace and Our Savior (#1034)

Introduction to be added soon…

As taught by Bruce Mahone 20211219.  All Rights Reserved.

Verse Listing and Notes

Proverbs 17:22          A merry heart doeth good like a medicine

Luke 2:8-11                Good tidings of great joy – a Savior is born

John 3:16                    God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, Our Savior

John 10                       Our Savior came to give a life which is more than abundant

Acts 8:5-8                   Christ preached, great joy

Romans 12:12           Rejoicing in hope, persevering in prayer

Romans 15:13           Joy & peace in believing

Galatians 5:22           Fruit of totality of new nature

Philippians 3:1-3       Rejoice in Lord, no confidence in flesh

Colossians 1:9-11      Patience with joyfulness

Hebrews 2:8-18          Our Savior came to deliver God’s people

Hebrews 4:14-16       Our Savior can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities, come BOLDLY to the throne of his GRACE

I John 1:3-4                 Fulness of joy – fellowship

Teaching

Grace and Our Savior (#1034)

Grace and Vision (#1033)

Good morning.  We’re going to continue our series on the grace of God today, which will, one of these days turn into a book, so this is sort of preparatory for that.  And today we’re going to talk about grace and vision.  God has a great vision for our lives and we need to talk to God and pray and develop a vision for our lives going forward as well.  And you will find as we look into these visions, the records we’re going to use may not use the word grace very often, but it is very clear that God helps people with a good vision for their lives and helps them accomplish great things and receive great deliverance — not dependent on them following a bunch of rules.  That may happen in a business deal, I may sign a contract that if I fulfill these 12 things, and pay these fees, and hit this deadline then somebody is either going to some work for me or pay me for something.  It is always a bunch of requirements, a bunch of contingencies, a bunch of goals to be met. 

But, you don’t see that when you look at these records.. The reason I say it is by grace is that God just says He is going to do these things for His people without anything else; it is just He loves His people and He is going to take care of them.  He is going to encourage them to have a bigger vision for their lives, and He is going to help show them that He can do more for them then they ever imagined.  So, I think we’ll have a great time looking at these records, many of them are very familiar, but we’re looking at them again from the point of view of it is simply by God’s love and grace that He does these things.  Let’s start in II Kings chapter six…

As taught by Bruce Mahone 20211205.  All rights reserved.

Verse Listing and Notes

II Kings 6:8-23              Chariots of fire – Raise your vision for your life

Psalms 60:11-12          Through God we shall do valiantly: for he shall tread down our enemies

Psalms 71:1-15            Thou art my hope (vs. 5), I will hope continually (vs. 14)

Psalms . 91                   1000, 10,000 shall fall, but it shall not come nigh thee (vs. 7)

Psalms 146:5                Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God

Psalms 147:11              The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy

Proverbs 16:2               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

Ecclesiastes 9:4            For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope

Jeremiah 17:7               Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is

Jeremiah 29:11-13       An expected end [NRS – a future with hope – tiqvah – hope, expectation, grounds for hope] (vs. 11)

Danielle 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 Corinthians 4:(1-)18  Look not at those things which are seen

Philippians 3:3              Worship God in the spirit, rejoice in CJ, have no confidence in the flesh

Colossians 3:1-3           Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth (vs. 1)

Teaching

Grace and Vision (#1033)

Grace and Judgement (#1032)

Good morning.  Today, we’re going to continue our series on the grace of God and get into a subject, that is frankly rather involved, consider this kind of an introduction today then a final word on the topic, because we’re going to talk about grace and judgement.  Judgement is a tough thing. People, I think, perhaps by nature, probably the nature of the old man, like to judge everything and everybody around them.  They like to compare people to the way they are, and people that don’t measure up to the way they are, or the way they claim to be, they want to judge and think of them as somehow inferior, or sinful.  And it is a very slippery slope.  Because, as we’ll see as we go into this, first-of-all, the human condition is such that it’s impossible for any of us to ever be perfect.  Sometimes we do better than others, sometimes we do better than ourselves, sometimes we do well for a while, then we don’t do so well for a while, and it is just a tough thing.  And, when it comes right down to it, God is the only one that can judge accurately where people are at.

And, because we are in the age of grace, He doesn’t seem to spend a lot of His energy judging people, He seems to spend His energy loving people and answering their prayers and trying to help them, which as we are to imitators of God, that is what we ought to be doing instead of judging people and deciding who is more righteous then somebody else, we ought to realize as we try to do that righteousness come through Jesus Christ, and we just shouldn’t be worried about what everybody else does.  Other than to love them and pray for them and help them.  But it is a very challenging topic, we’re going to read some very challenging sections of scripture.

Again, I don’t pretend to have the final word on the sections of scripture, even on the topic.  I’m reminded of things like where it says the weakness of God is strong than man, and the something of God is wiser than man. In other words, God is so far above where we are, that the idea that we should judge between ourselves is amazing.  It would be like somebody is driving down the road in a Ferrari and you and I are taking a walk, and you’re all excited because you can walk a little faster than I can; well, so what, there is a guy in a Ferrari.  He can go much faster then either of us can walk, run, or sprint.  Well that is sort of the way God is.  He is so far above where we are, that the idea that I should compare myself to you and say I’m better, or smarter, or anything, is just silly.  Just silly.  But people do it.  So, we’re not going to stop people from dong it, but what we can do is learn from God’s word the folly of judging others.

And I know there are verses in the Bible that talk about, that if your brethren have a fight with each other, rather than going to the law or unbeliever, we should be wise enough as Christian brothers and sisters to judge the truth of the matter and work through it, but that is a different thing.  That is working through a disagreement, I’m talking about just judging people about the way they live or the way they talk, or the way they dress, or one of the many, many other things that people judge each other on, it is just silly to do that, because it is really God’s job. 

What we’ll see is as we get into this, is that is very challenging being a human being.  It is just as challenging being a human being who is  Christian trying to live God’s word.  It is very difficult to really understand where people are really at, completely, you may see a little bit.  What does it say somewhere? No one knows the heart of a man, except the man himself and God.  It’s just not possible, so when it comes down to it: we love one another, we help one another, and ultimately, we look to God.  Because God is the one who really understands us completely and can show us what to do.  And, if we are off the ball, he can show us.  And there are plenty of other verses about that.  Like I say, we might have to have a part two on this one, I’m already thinking of half-a-dozen of things I should have put in the notes, so maybe we’ll do part two next time.  At any rate, let’s start in II Kings chapter five…

As taught by Bruce Mahone 20211121.  All rights reserved.

Verse Listing and Notes

II Kings 5:18-19                     Go in peace

John 8:10-11                          Neither do I condemn thee

Matthew 12:1-8                    David and the shewbread (sacred loaves)

Romans 7                               I delight in the law of God after the inward man (vs. 22)

II Corinthians 3                     Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (vs. 17)

Matthew 7:1-5                       Judge not, that ye be not judged (vs. 1)

Romans 2:1                           Thou that judgest doeth the same things

II Corinthians10:1-12           They measuring themselves by themselves are not wise (vs. 12)

Romans 5:1ff                         We HAVE peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ

Teaching

Grace and Judgement (#1032)

Grace and Loving God (#1031)

Good morning. We’re going to continue our series on the grace of God today, talking about grace and loving God. Last time we talked about grace and God loving us, no matter what we do or where we are. And, we may have covered what I’m gong to cover today to some degree in previous episodes, but we’ll look at it again from the point of view of the grace of God, and I’ve added a few scriptures that I don’t cover very often to just give another perspective on it. So let’s start in Deuternomy chapter six…

As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20211107.  All rights reserved.

Verse Listing and Notes

Deuteronomy 6:4-5         Love the Lord thy God

Deuteronomy 7:7-9          Them that love him

Deuteronomy . 10:12-16  Love him and serve

Deuteronomy 11:1-25      Love the Lord

Deuteronomy 30:15-20   Life and good

Joshua 22:1-5                    Be diligent to love the Lord your God

I Chronicles 10:1-14         How did Saul die?

Isaiah 1:11-19                   To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices

Matthew 22:34-40            First and great commandment: love God

Matthew 23                       These ought ye to have done, and not left the other undone (vs. 23)

Romans 8:28                     All things work together for good

I John 5:2-3                        For this is the love of God

Teaching

Grace and Loving God (#1031)

Grace and God’s Love (#1030)

Good morning. We’re going to continue our series on God’s Grace, looking specifically at God’s love, which is a topic we’ve looked at before, but today we’ll be looking at it from the point of view that we don’t earn His love, we probably don’t deserve His love, but God loves us anyway. So even though the word grace doesn’t show up very much in these verses we’re looking at, the fact that God loves us regardless of what we do is very clear. And, that is amazing. We often talk about unconditional love that God shows towards us, and that is very unique because we know with people, that you occasionally meet a rare individual that will love you unconditionally. And that is wonderful when that happens and I thank God for that. I know we all endeavor to do it, but is hard as people, because we don’t like slights, we don’t like attacks, we don’t like insults, we don’t like it when people let us down. So, even as much as we might try to love people unconditionally, it is difficult. Of course, a lot of people don’t’ even try to love unconditionally.

There are people that we try very hard to love and take care of and they don’t care about us at all. We’ve all dealt with that. But, all that aside, God’s love is unconditional. It’s purely by His grace, it’s purely because He chooses to love us, and no matter what we do He still loves us. So, I wanted to point that out because I’m sure there are places you could go where if you didn’t follow a group’s rules and recommendations, they may not come out and say God doesn’t love you, but they would sure as heck imply it. But, that is their problem, we’re not here to pick on other groups, we may look at them just for comparison, but we’re here to focus on God’s incredible grace and today, the great love we have because of that. So let’s start with some very familiar verses, we’ll go back to Deuteronomy chapter seven….

As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20211024.  All rights reserved.

Verse Listing and Notes

Deuteronomy 7:8      God’s motives

Deuteronomy 23:5    God turned the curse (of Balaam) into a blessing, because He loved

Psalms 13:5-6             I have trusted in thy steadfast love

Psalms  34:8-10         O taste and see that the Lord is good; they that seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing —

Psalms 36:7-9            How excellent (precious) is thy lovingkindness

Psalms 92:1-2            To shew forth (declare) thy lovingkindness in the morning

Psalms 119:165         Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend

Jeremiah 9:23, 24      He knoweth the Lord which exercises lovingkindness (vs 24)

Jeremiah 31:3            With lovingkindness He drew us.

Romans 8:28             All things work together for good

Romans 8:38, 39       Nothing can separate us

Ephesians 1:4-6         Holy and without blame, lovely and acceptable

I Thessalonians 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)

Teaching

Grace and God’s Love (#1030)