Perseverance (#993) Good morning! Today, we’re going to talk about perseverance. There will be a little overlap between what we talked about last time, where we talked about God taking out of the pit, the need to be patient, and look to the Lord; so, part of this will be a review of that and part if it will be some different material. But I checked my notes, I haven’t actually taught this particular teaching in almost exactly ten years; so, I imagine it will be pretty new. Here we go, in Lamentations three…
As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20200503. All rights reserved. Verse Listing and Notes
Lamentations 3:22-26 Great is thy faithfulness (vs. 23); The Lord is good unto them that wait [qawah – with expectation] for him (vs. 25); good to quietly wait for the deliverance of the Lord (vs. 26)
Psalms 37:7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him
Psalms 40:1 I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry
Luke 8:4-15 Fruit with patience (steadfast perseverance) [by persevering] (vs. 15)
Luke 18:1-8 Men ought always to pray, and not to faint
Luke 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls (NASB: by your endurance you will gain your lives)
Acts 1:14 These all continued [were continually devoting themselves]
– To persevere and not to faint
– To show one’s self courageous for
Acts 2:42 They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine [proskartareo – continually devoted themselves]
Romans 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)
Romans 12:10-14 Patient in mental pressure [continuing steadfast, faithful] Continuing instant in prayer [to persevere and not to faint, to show one’s self courageous for]
Ephesians 6:18 Watching (be on the alert) with all perseverance (proskartaresis) Teaching Perseverance (#993)
Out of the Pit (#992) Good morning. With the situation we’re all in, some people think life is the pits. Well I don’t think it is. But the scriptures talk about how God took us out of the pit. And that will be one of the things we’ll look at, the other thing we’ll look at is the importance of being patient and waiting on the Lord. That is the thing that is going on now for many of us: that there is a lot of waiting around to see what happens. At least not as much activity as we would have if we could get out and be about. So, these are things we’ve read before and we’ll read them again. but we’re going to look at them today in light of our current situation. OK; Psalms 37…
As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20200419. All rights reserved. Verse Listing and Notes
Psalms 37:7 Rest in the Lord [be still, silent before the Lord]; Wait patiently for him
Psalms 40 I waited (qawah – vs. 1) patiently (intently – waiting I waited) for the Lord, and he heard
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit (vs. 2).
5 You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted. (NRSV)
Ecclesiastes 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)
Romans 5:2-5 Patience leads to [brings about, produces] hope, which maketh not ashamed
Romans 12:10-14 Patient in mental pressure [continuing steadfast, faithful, persevering in prayer]
Romans 15:1-6 Patience and comfort of the scriptures [through patient endurance and the encouragement drawn from the scriptures]; the God of patience.
II Corinthians 6:1-10 In MUCH patience
II Corinthians 12:11-13 In ALL patience
Colossians 1:9-11 Strengthened unto all patience with joyfulness
I Thessalonians 1:3 Patience of (proceeding from) hope Teaching Out of the Pit (#992)
Resurrection Victory (#991) Good morning, here we are on Resurrection Sunday, also called Easter, a day when we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We’re going to read a lot of scriptures today, about not only about his resurrection, but what led up to it. The fact that he shed his blood and his body was broken and what that means for us and that that ultimately led to the resurrection. And, of course the coming of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost and the life we can now enjoy as God’s children, walking with the power of God. So, let’s start in I Corinthians chapter eleven…
As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20200412. All rights reserved. Verse Listing and Notes
I Corinthians 11:23-26 This do in remembrance of me
I Peter 2:24 By whose stripes ye were healed
Hebrews 9:12 By his own blood he obtained eternal redemption for us
Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law
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 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words
Job 19:25-27: 25 But as for me I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last:
26 And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God!
27 I will see him for myself Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought! (NLT)
I Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind and be strong
13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. (NIV) Teaching Resurrection Victory (#991)
God’s Might (#990) Good morning. I, like many of you, like to read the Bible in the morning. And the way I like to do it is get one of these one year Bible apps on the phone; I’ve had them before in book form, where every morning you read say a couple of chapters in the Old Testament, a chapter in the New Testament, and half a Psalm, and a few verses in Proverbs. And throughout the course of a year you go through the whole Bible. That’s the way I like to read the Bible, but there are many ways to do it. And recently I ran across a couple of sections of scripture that I thought I’d share with you today that I think are very appropriate to our big challenge with this virus, which is making things challenging for many people. And the topic we’re going to cover is God’s might. And we’re going to start by going to II Kings 18…
As taught by Bruce Mahone 20200405. All rights reserved. Verse Listing and Notes
II Kings 18-20 Hezekiah – the Assyrians and sick unto death
Ephesians 3:20 God can do exceeding abundantly above Teaching God’s Might (#990)
Rely on God (#989) Good morning. Today we’re going to talk about relying on God. This is something we do frequently, but we’re in a unique situation, in our country and in our world where we have this new corona virus wandering around. So, it kind of putting things in a different light. I think this is probably the only time in the history of our great country where people have been asked to stay inside and not get within six feet of anybody. The closest thing I can think of is when I was quite young and had big nuclear scares and people were building bomb shelters in their back yard and that kind of thing. But, that was just certain people that wanted to take extra precautions, it wasn’t the whole country staying inside. But that doesn’t mean God can’t provide for us and it doesn’t mean He can’t take care of us. We’ll read a number o records today where people were faced with unbelievably complex situations, yet God came through for them anyway. What is going on today is what people in the business world call a black swan event. That goes back in history to about 1700 when some Europeans discovered Australia. Europeans had never seen anything but white swans, so they just assumed all were white. Then in 1697, a Dutchman traversing the Pacific bumped into Australia and he found back swans. So, this was a whole new thing. And it is used metaphorically to refer to something totally unexpected. And when it comes to things like politics and social movements and business cycles, people who follow that have certain statistics and history and they try to predict what’s going to happened and they never get it perfectly right, but they often have a rough idea because things repeat themselves over time. You get too many people in one political party in power and they get out of hand and in the next election, they vote in the other party to bring the opposite back. Same thing with business, you put too much money in the economy and it overheats and then it has a big correction. These things are somewhat predictable, but black swans are not. Black swans are not predictable, it is something that nobody expected. Who would have known that we could have had a virus so strong come out of China that everybody would stay home, although it has happened. And that doesn’t mean that its the end of the world, it just means its a big surprise. Everybody had plans; vacation plans, business plans, financial plans, family events, fellowship, meetings, everybody had many plans; most of which will be canceled or severely rearranged. Like one simple example, I told you I was going to a clergy conference in Chicago next weekend and I told them a couple of weeks ago I probably wasn’t going to come, but I just got the note yesterday, that they’ve rescheduled for September, which I think is very smart so that is just one small example; and we all have ways that are going to effect us. There will unfortunately be people getting laid off or losing jobs or have it effect their income and they have to figure out how to pay their bills. And everybody is going to be going through much of this in the next few months. And God though, is able to take care of us. I mean, think of the times in the old testament records when the Assyrians invaded or the Babylonians came, or when the Philistines attacked when Saul was the King, just so, so many times where people had incredible challenges that they never imagined, yet those that trusted God came out victorious. I mean heck, think of Job, he lost everything, but he continued to trust God, he would not curse God and die like his wife wanted him to do. And he came out with double what he had before. There are so many records in the scripture like that, where God comes through unbelievably. So there are two things I want you to get out of the teaching today, one: that no matter what things look like in our country and in the world today and no matter if we’ve hit the bottom and they start to get better or they get worse for another number of months, it doesn’t matter, God will take take of us. And the other thing is: God has called us as one body, so we help each other. If one of you gets stuck, and I or someone else in the fellowship can help, we’ll do all we can. I feel very confident that if I got in a mess, I could call on you guys and you would do what you could to help. So, let realize number one, God is going to take care of us and number two, God has called us a one body and so it is OK to help each other, it is OK to ask for help, it is OK to be confident to know that others in the fellowship will be there for you. So with that in mind let’s get into the scriptures. Many of these scriptures we’ve read before, but today we’re in a little bit of different circumstances so you might look at them a little differently, so let look at Deuteronomy chapter seven…
As taught by Bruce Mahone 20200322. All rights reserved. Verse Listing and Notes
Deuteronomy 7:7-9 The LORD God is the faithful God
I Kings 17:1-16 The ravens, then the barrel of meal fed Elijah.
Psalms 36:5-9 Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds
Psalms 92:1-5 To show forth thy faithfulness every night
Psalms 108:1-6 Your mercy (steadfast love, lovingkindness) is great above (higher than) the heavens and thy truth (faithfulness) reaches to the clouds (skies) (vs. 4)
Psalms 119:86 All thy commandments are faithful
Psalms 119:90 Thy faithfulness is unto all generations
Romans 12:10-14 Patient in mental pressure, continuing instant [steadfastly, faithful, persevering, be constant] in prayer (vs. 12)
I Corinthians 10:13 God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what ye are able
II Thessalonians 3:3 The Lord is faithful, who will stablish you and keep you from evil
Titus 1:9 Holding fast the faithful word Teaching Rely on God (#989)
Amazing (#988) Good morning! We’re going to cover some amazing material today; as a matter of fact that is the title of the teaching: Amazing. We’re going to talk about being amazing. A lot of things God does amazes people. It uses words like amazing and astonished; it is no surprise to you, but it has been a number of years since I taught this before, but it was 19 years ago, so it is probably about time we looked at it again. So, we’ll read some verses about people being amazing, amazed, and astonished. And in a similar, but not identical note we’ll start in Psalm one…
As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20200308. All rights reserved. Verse Listing and Notes
Psalms 1:1-3 His delight is in the law of the Lord
Matthew 7:24-29 The people were astonished at his doctrine (vs. 28)
Matthew 13:53-58 Insomuch that they were astonished (vs. 54)
Matthew 22:23-33 They were astonished at his doctrine (vs. 33)
Mark 5:35-43 They were astonished with a great astonishment (vs. 42)
Acts 3:1-11 They were filled with wonder and amazement (vs. 10)
Acts 9:1-6 Trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? (vs. 6)
Acts 10:44-46 They of the circumcision which believed were astonished (vs. 45) Teaching Amazing (#988)
Help is On the Way (#987) Good morning. Last time we talked about how reliable God is, and we’re going to continue that theme by looking at how God helps His people. He’s is so reliable that He provides help whenever we need it. So the title of today’s teaching is: “Help is On the Way!” We’ve all seen those shows in the old Westerns, they used to wait for the Cavalry to come charging over the hill. There are all sorts of things in fiction where people are in big mess and then the hero shows up at just the last minute and saves the day. And those are fun, but they’re fiction. But in real life, God is that hero that shows up when we need help and He is amazingly wonderful. So we’ll read a number of record that we haven’t read for awhile here about that. II Chronicles chapter 14…
As taught by Bruce Mahone 20200223. All rights reserved. Verse Listing and Notes
II Chronicles 14:1-15 Asa & the Ethiopians: from a million adversaries to an abundance of spoil (vs. 11)
II Chronicles 18:28-34 Jehoshaphat & Ahab: help from God is better than deception (vs. 31)
II Chronicles 25:1-9 Amaziah & the Israelites: better to get help from God than from the ungodly (vs. 8)
II Chronicles 26:1-8 God helped Uzziah against the Philistines (vs. 7)
II Chronicles 32:1-8 Hezekiah: with us is the Lord our God to help us (vs. 8)
Psalms 3:1-3 Many say there is no help in God, but he is a shield (vs. 2)
Psalms 46:1-2,10-11 God is a very present help; be still and know that He is God (vs. 1)
Psalms 146 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help (vs. 5)
Isaiah 41:10-13 I will help thee and uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness (vss. 10, 13)
Acts 26:12-23 Having obtained help of God, I continue unto this day (vs. 2) Teaching Help is On the Way! (#987)
Most Reliable (#986) Good morning! We’re going to talk today about one of the great truths we all know, that God is the most reliable. Reliability is something we all deal with. I was explaining earlier that my pretty-nice car that had driven well for the first 226,000 miles, all of the sudden stopped. The engine just freezed-up for no apparent reason. It has maintenance, it had been checked, it had been to the shop, it had all its fluids, but it just quit. And that happens. Just when you think: ‘this car is indestructible; it will go another 200,000 miles’ it just quit. And we know that about people. We all deal with people in business relationships, and with things like a car, do you trust your mechanic, is he reliable? In your personal relationships; some people are very reliable, some people are totally unreliable, most people are somewhere in between. So we enjoy people, but one of the first things that I do is if I’m going to have any kind of interaction with a person that is going to be more than saying hello on the street, is I need to find out how reliable they are and I don’t ask them, because they will tell me whatever that want. I just sort of watch. And after awhile you find out this person is always there. You know I’ve had friends that you didn’t believe they were going to show up until you saw the whites of their eyes. And once you know that you’re fine. Because, if they show up – great, and whatever we’re going to do, we can go do. If they don’t, well, you have a backup plan because they don’t show up have the time. I have some neighbors that are getting their house redecorated; the guy has been working on it for like a year because he is not very fast. I hope he’s good and cheap, because he is certainly not fast. But they have come to live with that; no matter what he says, add a month to it. And I’ve have places were you go to some building a lot and they say they’re redecorating this or you know they’re refurbishing or redoing part of the building and you come to find out that like a hotel that is near my house, that is an old historic place that they were redoing and when I asked the staff how long it would take to reopen, I usually had to add about three months to it, because I had noticed that whatever they told me it would be going on a couple of months. So, when they told me it would be done in February, I thought OK; I will come back in May. And that is about what it took; it got done eventually. So, we all have to deal with the concept of reliability. Is the equipment reliable, are people reliable, are other things reliable? Sometimes they are, often they are not. And the more we come to understand that, and not rely on those things, but the less we will be frustrated and upset about our plans falling through. So, I’m glad I wasn’t planning to visit that; I used to like to plan on going to lunch at that hotel, but I took about six-months off. But that is OK, there are other places to eat lunch. So, it is OK, but had I been all upset at them for being slow in their construction, I would have just had a miserable six months, but I didn’t – I just find it very amusing. Of course, I chose to find most things amusing; it seems easier to live that way. But God is so reliable we don’t have to have that; we don’t have to have to say: “I’m going to find out if God is reliable, then take it from there.” You know, adjust. You know here is a great coffee cup Mary-Rose it says: “Death before Decaf” that’s cute. Let’s go to II Chronicles chapter 13…
As taught by Bruce Mahone 20200209. All rights reserved. Verse Listing and Notes
II Chronicles 13 The children of Judah prevailed, because they relied [Heb. Sha-an: to rest, rely, lean upon, support oneself] upon the LORD God (vs. 18)
II Chronicles 16 Thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied [Heb. Sha-an] on the LORD thy God (vs. 7)
Psalms 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
Psalms 118:5-9 It is better to trust [Heb. Chasa] in the Lord than to put confidence in man (vs. 8)
Proverbs 3:5 Lean [Heb. Sha-an] not unto thine own understanding
Isaiah 31:1 Woe to them…stay [Heb. Sha-an] on horses…but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel
Isaiah 50:10-11 Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay [Heb. Sha-an] upon his God
Daniel 3:28 God delivered his servants that trusted [Aram. rechats: set one’s trust on] in him
Romans 12:10-14 Patient in mental pressure, continuing instant [steadfastly, faithful, persevering, be constant] in prayer (vs. 12)
II Corinthians 1:8-10 We should trust in God which raiseth the dead
(Titus 1:9 Holding fast the faithful word) Teaching Most Reliable (#986)
God is Never Late (#985) Good morning! Today we’re going to talk about a topic we touch on now and then, but don’t necessarily focus on; which is simply that God is never late. And that sometimes is a hard thing for us to get used to because we’re used to people always being late and often being late ourselves. People are all over the map with this kind of thing. There are those that say they’ll be over at three-o-clock, for them it means that they’ll arrive anywhere between five and nine PM, and there are cultures where that is how they look at time. And there are other people that say three o-clock and they lock the door at 3:01 and won’t talk to you. And people are anywhere in the middle there. Everybody has a different sense of time and what is reasonable. And I was told at one point of my life that if you’re going to a dinner party its polite to show up five minutes late, because if you show up five minutes early, your host might still be scurrying around getting the meal ready. So, it is impolite to arrive early. I have other people say that if you don’t arrive ten minutes early, then that is not good. So, people are all over the map, but God is never late. He always gets us what he promised us when he promised it. But sometimes we have to be very patient until things fall into line. And sometimes there are a lot of things involved that we don’t know about. Sometimes God has to wait on people to be ready and do what they are told; you know what God tells them to do. Because they don’t want to listen to God. There are other times where other circumstances have to fall into place, and other times we just don’t know what is going on. I always think of that time in Jeremiah where everybody pleaded with Jeremiah to go ask God whether they should stay in Jerusalem or flee to Egypt and God didn’t tell them or Jeremiah for ten whole days. There are other times where Jesus Christ walks into a situation and clearly gets revelation and immediately heals somebody or raises the dead or makes the blind see. So, there are times where God moves very quickly, there are times where God makes people wait awhile. And we don’t always know why (unless God tells you you don’t know why — sometimes He’ll tell you and sometimes He won’t), but what we do know is that for what He has promised He’s never late. So, we’ll read a few scriptures along those lines and you can read the whole Bible on this topic and virtually every chapter in the Bible would have something that applies to it. I obviously had to pick a few that we could fit into our fellowship schedule so I’ll read a few — and a lot of these are very familiar verses that we read from time to time, but we’re going to look at them from the point of view of God not being late. So let’s start in Psalms 27…
As taught by Bruce Mahone 20200126. All rights reserved. Verse Listing and Notes
Psalms 27:14 Wait (qawah – expect, look for) on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart.
Psalms 37:1-9, 34-37 Vs. 5: Commit thy way – “roll thy way upon” the Lord (vss. 9, 34: qawah – wait with expectation)The end of the perfect man is peace
Vs. 7: Rest in the Lord [be still, silent before the Lord];Wait patiently for him
Psalms 40 I waited (qawah – vs. 1) patiently (intently – waiting I waited) for the Lord, and he heard
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit (vs. 2).
5 You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted. (NRSV)
Psalms 62:5-8 My expectation is from him (God), vs. 5
(Psalms 130) Forgiveness with God (vs. 4), that he may be feared (revered). I wait (with expectation) for the Lord (vs. 5). Watch for the morning – includes guards, keepers
Ecclesiastes 7:8-10 Better is the patient than proud in spirit (disposition). [patience better than pride]
Isaiah 40:28-31 They that wait (with expectation) upon the LORD shall renew their strength
Lamentations 3:26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD
II Thessalonians 3:1-5 The Lord direct into patient waiting for [patience of] Christ Teaching God is Never Late (#985)
Always Ask (#984) Welcome! Our first fellowship of the new year, and as we were kidding each other before I turned the recorder on, 2020 is the year for great vision. And we’re glad we can have such great vision and what we are going to talk about today is something we touch on now and then, but we haven’t had a whole session on it for quite awhile. About the importance of asking. We all know people who like to ask for stuff; I know people that ask me for so many things that frankly they become very annoying. Even if they know I’m not going to give it to them, they will ask me for silly things just to be annoying. So it has its limits, but in general, you have to ask for stuff. ‘You, need help; you ask for help. You’re at the store and can’t find something you ask somebody. If there is something you want to accomplish, some project; and you can’t figure it all out, you ask somebody that knows more than you do. And asking is important. And we know it works with people, we know it works when you want to order a a sandwich at a restaurant, we know it works in many, many categories of life; it also works with God. And some want to people say: God just knows; He’ll just give you stuff, why should you bother. And there are verses that talk about how God knows, the hairs of your head are numbered and God knows what you need. And that is absolutely true, but He also tells us to ask. You go into a restaurant and they may have a hundred things on the menu, but unless you are somebody like me or my parents that always order the same thing, and you got the same waiter every time, they’re generally not just going to put the food down in front of you — you have to ask. And the only reason they do that is because twenty times you did ask for the same thing and they sort of got used to you. But you have to ask and God wants us to ask. We have the freedom of will to ask and He wants us to. God is not going to control your life and decide everything you should have and just throw it in front of you. There are a lot of things He will do for you, but they’re generally because we ask. OK, let’s start in Judges…
As taught by Bruce Mahone. 20200112. All rights reserved. Verse Listing and Notes
Judges 3:9, 15 When the children of Israel cried unto the Lord (asked), God raised them up a deliverer
I Kings 3:5, 9-10 Solomon asked for an understanding heart (vs. 9)
II Chronicles 20:1-4 All Judah gathered to ask help of the Lord
Psalms 105:40 The people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven
aiteo – ask, request, require, demand
Matthew 6:1-8 Your father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him (vs. 8)
Matthew 7:7-11 Ask and it shall be given unto you (Luke 11:9-13 – holy spirit)
Matthew 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive
John 14:12-14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it
John 15:16 Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name
John 16:23 We can go right to the source when we ask!
Ephesians 3:20 He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think
James 1:5-6 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God
I John 3:22 Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments
I John 5:13-15 If we ask anything according to his will, he heareth…we have the petitions [requests] that we desired Teaching Always Ask (#984)