Relax! (#971)
Good morning. We’re going to read about a topic very simple today, just simply titled: Relax! With an exclamation point. I think too many of us spend too much time and too much energy being too concerned about way too much. It’s good to think, it’s good to be concerned, it’s good to do what they call “your due-diligence” you know where you do your homework carry out the details of whatever responsibilities you may have. But there is a point where you have done everything you can and you’re still worried about everything. And, we’ve got to stop.
We’ve just got to do the best we can and then let it go. But people will say: how do I know that this business deal, or this job or this relationship, or this thing I’m buying, or this whatever, is going to work out? Well, the truth is unless God tells you have no idea if it is going to work out. But it doesn’t matter because God promises to take care of you. So let’s say you get all wrapped up in some new project, where you are going to make some money and you get all wrapped up in it, you get nervous about it, you don’t know if it is going to come to pass, so you get more nervous and try harder and harder. Whereas you know that there are only three steps you can do: A, B, and C; and then you know you just got to wait and see if the deal comes through or not. But you want to keep dreaming up parts: D, E, and F, where you just keep working and working and working where it is counter-productive. It is the law of diminishing returns kicking in, you are actually shooting yourself in the foot by getting so wrapped up in it. We’ll what we ought to do is do the A, B, and C; do the parts you know you can do, and then pray and let is go. And either that project will come to pass or God will show you something else to do.
Same thing with a relationship; you really want to witness to somebody, or you really want to have a friend, go on a date, or anything with or having to do with a person. Or getting along with a coworker. You can only do so much. And then you just have to let it go. And, if it doesn’t work out with that person; there’s a few other billion people in the world. God will find another person for you to work out what you need to work out with. God’s very good like that. So, in everything in life we’ve just got to do what the Word says and then relax. And, just quit worrying about it. Because continuing to fret about it is going to be counterproductive. It will wear you out, it will distract you from trusting God, and it will just make your life miserable. So, I encourage you to be very diligent in whatever you do, but once you’ve done that: stop! Relax. You’ve done what you could.
Everybody has their way of handling that, I remember being in college and it getting to be ten or eleven at night and I had a big exam in the morning, and I thought: now I could say up all night studying or I could just get a good night’s sleep and get in fresh and relaxed in the morning. And, that is what I always did; I always found it was better to study to…pick a time: ten, eleven at night and I would study until I was done and I would pray and go to bed. And I’d show up all relaxed and rested. And, because I was relaxed and rested, so much of what I studied came back to me easily. Whereas, if I’d stayed up all night Like some of my classmates and been fried. I probably would have studied more, but done worse. And that is just one example from my life; we all have examples like that where we’ve stopped and relaxed and we have examples where we’ve gone way, way too far and it’s been counterproductive. Salesmen even know this; you sell a product or service, but once you got the buy-in from the customer, you shut-up, because if you keep talking, they’ll start to get nervous and wonder, what is this guy talking about? Why is he trying so hard to sell it, is it a bad product that he is trying to convince himself it’s a good one? And again, these are just some simple examples; the broader thing in life is you just trust God. And, you don’t worry about it beyond that.
We many times like to read that great example of Paul when he up in what we now call Turkey or Asia-minor. He wanted to go to Phrygia, he wanted to go to Troas, he wanted to go to Bithynia; and God said: don’t go there. But finally, he got the vision of the man in Macedonia, and they went up there to Philippi and Macedonia in Northern Greece and there were all kinds of people wanting to hear the word of God. But, if he continued to sweat and worry about why God said don’t go to Bithynia, it would have been terrible, so he just let it go. And, we need to be willing to diligently work on what we need to work on, and then pray and then either the doors open and we walk right through or the door slams shut and God opens a new one. But we don’t fret about the door that shut, that door is shut and we let it go. And, we look forward to the door that God will open.
I think a lot of the great misery in life comes from people fretting over doors that have shut and they just can’t get over it. I sometimes talk to people that are still mad about something that happened a long time ago, and I basically say something along the lines of: you need a reality check; because the reality is that door closed a long time ago. And, unless God tells you to pursue that or the door radically blows open in your face, its closed, its over. Whether it is a job, whether it is moving somewhere, whether it is getting a deal on something you wanted to buy, whether it is a relationship with a person or a company or an organization. If it is closed, it is closed. And, we can move on and God will provide something better and more appropriate for us.
So relaxing is a great key in life. Just think about maybe your three big, and this will be a good little homework assignment for you after we’re done. Get a piece of paper, or a sheet on your computer if you’d prefer, and write down your three biggest challenges in life. Maybe one’s a job, one’s a health issue, and one’s a relationship with a person; it doesn’t matter. Maybe all three are related to a job, maybe they’re all three related to finances, it doesn’t matter, whatever your three biggest challenges are, write them down. And then, under each one, write three things you can do about it. Because, in most cases there are about three, there might be two, are might be five, but pick a small number of things you can actually get done — you can make a difference. Write them down.
So, now you have three of your biggest challenges in life, and you have somewhere around three positive steps you can make in those. So that is your first part of the assignment, make the list. The next part of the assignment is, take the most urgent one; do those three things. And you know what the next step is? Relax. Stop. Pray. Go about your life. Take a walk. Make a cup of coffee. Read a book. Whatever it is that you find relaxing, go do that. And then, when that is settled down, when emotions have quit bubbling so much, go on to point number two. And again, do the three or so things and then relax. And so on. And it’s just sort of a simple way of disciplining yourself to clarify what your challenges are, clarify the steps you can take, take them, and then stop. Just relax, quit fretting about it. Pray that God will either open that door and make that situation work or if that situation is hopeless, and the main reason it will be hopeless is because there are other people who chose to make it hopeless, because God does not control people’s freedom of will.
So, you may have the great intention to make it work, but if other people are around it trying to make it not work, God’s not going to passion them and make them. You may just have to let that situation go, because those people don’t want to help it work. But God knows other people who do want to help you, who do want to cooperate with you, and God can open the door for that to work. So, make your list, do your three steps for each of your three challenges, then let them go and pray that God will either find a way to open the doors for those three things to prosper and succeed, or He’ll show you what to do instead. Like when Paul didn’t get to go to Bithinia, he got to go to Macedonia. And in the same way, God will open doors for you.
So, although the theme of our teaching today is relax, its first get your work done. You know, you may have a job where you work until five o’clock; well you work very hard until five o’clock, but at five o’clock: clock-out, turn off the computer, leave the office, hang up the car keys if you’re driving — whatever it is, stop. You’ve done your job, now relax and pray that God will proper your efforts and let it go. We know how to do that when it comes to clocking-out from a job, now you have to clock your brain out for situations in life where you’ve done your due-diligence, you’ve gone through the steps you can do, and now you just have to let it go. And if you can done that, you can have a nice relaxed, peaceful life with more success, because instead of trying to hang on to situations in life that aren’t working; for those that aren’t going to work, you let them go and pray that God will open other situations for you. And we all have these, in every area of life, I’ve had stuff that works for decades and still works, I’ve had stuff that worked for a week and then it didn’t work, I’ve had stuff that worked for ten years, twenty years, thirty years, and then it didn’t work. And, you have to be willing to let it go and move on.
Like I say, when somebody comes to me with a problem and they hate their job, and that’s a lot of people, I tell them to do two things: do everything they can to make their current job work, but then keep their eyes open for other opportunities. And, if another opportunity comes along that’s better, not just a little more money, but maybe a better commute, maybe better coworkers, maybe a more cooperative boss, maybe more growth potential; then make the switch. But, until that day comes, do all you can to make your current situation work. Let’s go to Psalms 37…
As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20190630.  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 40:1                I waited (with expectation) [patiently and expectantly] and he heard
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
I Thessalonians 5:14-15 Be patient toward all
II Thessalonians 1:3-4  We glory for your patience and believing
II Thessalonians 3:1-5 The Lord direct into patient waiting for [patience of] Christ
Hebrews 12:1                Let us run with patience [patient endurance] the race before us
Teaching
Relax (#971)

A Fresh Start, Part 2 (#970)
Good morning. The last time we met on a Sunday morning, we had a topic called: “A Fresh Start,” where we read many wonderful records about how God helped people who were just in impossible situations, everybody would have said they were totally toast, as we’d say, or totally gone. Yet God helped them move along and go on to great victories. Well, we’re going to do Part Two of “A Fresh Start,” and then we are going to wrap it up about some wonderful verses about God, our heavenly Father, because today is Father’s Day. So, let’s go to Jeremiah 29…
Verse Listing and Notes
Jeremiah 29:1-11   “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)
Johah 3                      Nineveh repented
Luke 1:26-33            Birth of Jesus Christ
Psalms 36:7             How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God!
Jeremiah 31:3          With lovingkindness have I drawn thee
Romans 1:7              Grace to you and peace
Romans 3:20-26      Justified freely by his grace (vs. 24)
Romans 5:1-2          This grace wherein we stand
Romans 6:14           We are under grace
Romans 11:5-6        If by grace, then no more of works
Romans 16:24         The grace of our LJC be with you all
Matthew 7:7-11       How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (vs. 11)
Matthew 23:1-11     Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven (vs. 9)
I John 1:3-4               Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ (vs. 3)
I John 3:1-2               And we are!
Hebrews 4:14-16    We should come boldly unto the throne of grace
Jeremiah 29:1-11    “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)
Johah 3                      Nineveh repented
Luke 1:26-33             Birth of Jesus Christ
Psalms 36:7               How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God!
Jeremiah 31:3            With lovingkindness have I drawn thee
Romans 1:7               Grace to you and peace
Romans 3:20-26        Justified freely by his grace (vs. 24)
Romans 5:1-2            This grace wherein we stand
Romans 6:14             We are under grace
Romans 11:5-6          If by grace, then no more of works
Romans 16:24           The grace of our LJC be with you all
Matthew 7:7-11         How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (vs. 11)
Matthew 23:1-11       Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven (vs. 9)
I John 1:3-4                 Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ (vs. 3)
I John 3:1-2                 And we are!
Hebrews 4:14-16       We should come boldly unto the throne of grace
Teaching
A Fresh Start, Part 2 (#970)

A Fresh Start (#969)
Welcome! We’re going to have a fun time on a topic we touch every couple of years. And, always good to look into because we are always at different stages of our lives so it will hit us slightly differently. But this one is called A Fresh Start. So many people feel they are in a dead-end in life or their stuck somewhere and can’t move ahead and sometimes they feel it is because of something somebody else did, because of some circumstance; and those things can be very challenging to overcome, when you get used to your life going a certain way and all of the sudden there is some major change; you figure, how am I going to move forward. Well, God have lots of ways to move forward. And we’re going to read about a bunch of people who got a fresh start when it looked like they were totally going to be a mess. So let’s start in Deuteronomy chapter 23…
As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20190519
Verse Listing and Notes
Deuteronomy 23:5  God turned the curse (of Balaam) into a blessing, because He loved you
Judges 6:11-16         God called Gideon to deliver Israel
I Samuel 3:1-18        God called Samuel
I Kings 21:20-29        Ahab humbled himself
Isaiah 38:1-8              Hezekiah healed
Teaching
A Fresh Start (#969)

Ephesians 1 (#968)
Good morning. We’re going to take a break on our series on where to focus,but you can focus on this information though. We’re going to read Ephesians today.  Typically, I will teach a topic with verses from all over the Bible, but on occasions we just read one chapter at a time of a book in the Bible.
So we’ll start on Ephesians now and see how far we get. I thought about Ephesians being such a great book declaring the great relationship we have with God and what we have through Christ and much of what is available in the mystery of the One Body. And it is just so different than you hear in modern society and in some of the history of the church. I recently ran across some TV documentary that talked about the crusades in the early Middle-Ages, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th century and how the church leaders at the time were promising eternal life if you went and fought in the Middle East. And I thought: how silly that is; we have eternal life though what Christ did. Whether you go fight in the Middle-East is a whole different story; it has nothing to do with your eternal life. And then there are other people you see on the news that say if you don’t live the way we live or follow the moral code we’ve decided, then you’re going to go the hell. And again, whether or not you follow someone else’s moral code or do what some group says, may or may not have a positive effect on your life, but it has nothing to do with your eternal life.  Because that was paid for by Jesus Christ.
So as we go through Ephesians, not only will we learn a great deal about what God has provided for us through the wonderful work of our Lord Jesus Christ, but it will be a great myth-busting situation; where so many of the common myths, the common perceptions, so much of Christianity, just are not based on the scriptures. They’re based on some group, or some minister trying to basically scare people into behaving the way he wants by making all kinds of vain threats: “do what I say or you’ll go to hell.” Or: “If you do what I say, then you won’t go to hell.” Or: “you’ll go to heaven.”  And they have all of these threats and most of them are nothing but hot-air. Because the way we get eternal life, we know from Romans 10:9: ‘you confess with your mouth that Jesus is your lord and you believe that God raised him from the dead, and you have eternal life.’ Its that simple.
It is like there is a train and I’m at the train station, in Washington and there is a train ready to go to New York, and they’re handing out free tickets that somebody decided to donate. Well, somebody else paid for the tickets; I simply have to accept the ticket and get on the train. Then, I’m going.  Well, in the same way, because we have believed in Jesus Christ, we get the salvation he paid for with his blood. We simply accept it. And that is the only way to get eternal life. Picture there were this train going and they weren’t selling tickets, you couldn’t buy one; you either had to get a free one from this rich guy that bought a bunch of them and was handing them out or you couldn’t get on the train. Well, that is sort of the way we are: God is providing great eternal life to anybody who believes in Jesus Christ, and that is how you get it, you accept that or you don’t get it. It is very simple.
So for people to put all these other conditions on what you might have to door not do in order to get eternal life is just hot air. And people have come to believe that if a big enough group or a big enough following believe it, it must be true. Well, it is not true if the scriptures don’t say it is.
So let’s start in Ephesians chapter one…
As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20190505.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Ephesians 1:1-23
Teaching
Ephesians 1 (#968)

 

Clear Focus, Part 10: Hope (#967)
Welcome. Today we’re going to continue the series we’ve been doing since the beginning of 2019 on having a clear focus. Where we talk about what things we can focus on in God’s word. ‘Cause there are so many different topics and today we’re going to focus on hope. Hope is something positive to look forward to; and the great hope we read about in the scriptures is the hope of Jesus Christ’s return. And for him to be able to return, he has to continue to be alive, and for that to happen, he has to have been resurrected. So we’re going to take some time read about his resurrection, which is a very important focus in the scriptures — that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. You know it is interesting, we’ve done a teaching in the past that I’m not going to go into any details on today, but a lot of people will say the most important aspect of Christianity is Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, and that is very, very important. Yet, in the book of Acts, the focus quickly moves from his death to his resurrection. Although his sacrifice and giving his blood for us, and dying on the cross is very big, what is even greater is that he was raised for the dead, and then after he was raised from the dead, of coarse, we got the gift of holy spirit. So let’s look here in Matthew chapter twenty-eight…

As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20190421.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Matthew 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 Thessalonians 4:13-18    Wherefore comfort one another with these words
I Timothy 1:1                  Lord Jesus Christ our hope
Titus 1:2                          In hope of eternal life
Titus 3:7                          Hope of eternal life
Acts 23:6                         Hope & resurrection of the dead
Romans 5:1-5 vs. 2:       Rejoice in hope
glory of God: Rev. 21:23
Romans 12:12                 Rejoicing in hope
Hebrews 6:19                  Anchor of the soul
Hebrews 10:23                Confession of the hope
Teaching
Clear Focus, Part 10: Hope (#967)

Clear Focus, Part 9: Steadfast (#966)
Good morning. Today we’ll continue our series on on having a clear focus, so we know where to focus our attention and our thinking for the upcoming couple of weeks. So many things to think about in God’s word, its nice to just pick one or two to focus on. And what we’re going to focus on is the concept of being steadfast. We see this in at least two areas; one, God is steadfast in His care for us and that was very clear in the manifestations; He said he would be the constant in our lives, He would always be here to take care of us, and we’ll read a number of versus about that and we’ll read a number of other versus about the importance of us being steadfast to trust God and believe His word and pray. So it will be a great session, I’m very excited about it. As with many of these teachings, we have read these verses before, but not for a couple of years. So, it will be great to look at them and consider them in light of our lives today. Let’s start in the book of Ruth, in the Old Testament…

As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20190407.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Ruth                                   She was steadfastly minded (determined) [1:18]
Psalms 13:5-6                   I have trusted in thy steadfast love
Psalms 18:46-50               God shows steadfast love to his anointed, and to his seed forevermore
Psalms 23:6                       Surely goodness and steadfast love shall follow me
Psalms 107:1                     O give to the Lord, for he is good; his mercy (steadfast love) endures forever
Psalms 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)
Psalms 136                         Mercy: love (NIV), lovingkindness (ASV), steadfast love (NRSV)
Psalms 112:1, 7-8              His heart is fixed (vs 7 – steadfast), his heart is established (vs 8 – steady)
Isaiah 26:3-4                       Stayed on thee – steadfast (Expositors Bible Commentary), well stayed, steady (ICC)
Daniel 6:26                          He is the living God, and steadfast for ever (vs. 26)
Luke 8:15                             Fruit with patience (steadfast perseverance) [by persevering]
Romans 12:10-14               Patient in mental pressure [continuing steadfast, faithful, persevering in prayer]
I Corinthians 15:58             Be ye steadfast unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord
I Peter 5:6-9                          Whom resist, steadfast in the faith
II Thessolians 3:5                 Love of God & Patient (steadfast) waiting
Additional Verses:
II Thessolians 3:3                  The Lord is faithful, who will stablish you and keep you from evil
II Timothy 2:13                       If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful
Titus 1:9                                  Holding fast the faithful word
I John 1:9                                 He is faithful and just to forgive
Teaching
Clear Focus, Part 9: Steadfast (#966)

Clear Focus, Part 8: Think Bigger (#965)
Good morning! Here we are back again, ready for a fine, fine time in God’s word. We’ve been focusing since the end of last year, around the Christmas and New Year’s time, on having a clear focus. So we know what to focus our minds on; and obviously there is a lot in the scriptures and we can’t focus on all of it all the time, but we’re trying to look at those topics where God encourages us to raise our vision. Whats it say in Proverbs? “Where there is no vision the people perish.” You have to have vision, you have to have something to look at. Oh, by the way, that is etched into the wall in Science Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. I used to spend a lot of time in hearings in that room and I always got a kick out of seeing that quote from Proverbs: “where there is no vision, the people perish.” We’ll we need vision, we need a way to look forward because if we can’t look up to God and His word (again we’re being figurative, we don’t have to actually look at the sky), but if we’re not looking upward at God and His great promises and His great ability to take care of us, we’ll be looking down at our feet and all the little confusing details around us. And we all have confusing details to deal with, that is part of life. But, if further down the way, we look past them at God’s great ability to take care of us then we’ll have a vision to keep ourselves going. Otherwise, its like being in a tunnel. There is a lot to be said for that saying about the light at the end of the tunnel. As long as somebody says: “as long as its not a freight train coming at you.” But, that is just a joke. Sometimes it feels like you are in a tunnel and its dark and you are groping and you can’t see anything and then all of the sudden we pray and God sheds light on the situation and we see that light at the end of the tunnel and come our victorious. I think of verses, I think in Psalms where it says: “In thy light shall we see light.” And verses like: “have our thoughts on Christ or on things above, not on things on the Earth.” That is what we are trying to do in this series on Clear Focus, and there are many, many topics. As with many things in the scriptures, some will resonate with you, or make sense to you more than others. Not everything in these scriptures will really click with you, but when you find one that really hits your heart and really gives you something to hold on to, then hold on to that one. Memorize the verse. Print it out or make it your screen saver on your computer, or put it on a post-it and put it on your door or on your mirror, or on your dashboard or refrigerator, or wherever you look at stuff. And hold onto that because we all need to find those things in the scriptures that really click for us. And it will be different for different people. And if you are not finding something that really clicks for you, just pray that God will really show you something. Because God has so many words of encouragement, and that is one of the great things about manifestations: God knows what is on our hearts and He can give us the words to meet our need that particular day, that particular moment, with that particular group. So, listen to the manifestations, click with those verses that click with you, and stay with them. Don’t worry about the ones that don’t make sense, because it could be that certain verses will make sense to Mary-Rose and hit here heart, but I don’t get anything out of them. But then, another one will be really great for Brian, but Camille doesn’t get anything out of them. Then maybe the last verse, all of the sudden that hits Camille and she goes: “wow, that is what I needed.” I mean, that is the way life is. I’ve been to so many events where so many people teach and with certain people I get absolutely nothing out of what they teach, but somebody else says: “wow, that is the greatest thing in the world and just what I needed.” And that is OK because we all need different things and we just pray that God will provide everything, everybody needs for it. Alright, well here we go; with that brief introduction let’s get into God’s word. II Chronicles 25, please…

As taught by Bruce Mahone 20190324.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
II Chronicles 25:1-9                The LORD is able to give thee much more than this
II Chronicles 20:1-3, 24-30    His God gave him rest round about
Genesis 22:14                         The Lord will see and provide (Jehovahjireh) [Heb. 11:17-19]
Exodus 16:1-15                       God gave them quail and “what is it” (manna)
Exodus 17:1-7                         God provided water (Meribah = strife, contention)
II Kings 4:1-7                            God provided through the vessels of oil
Acts 16:6-15                             The Macedonian call – God provided needed direction, so His Word could bring deliverance to those hungry for it
II Corinthians 9:8                     God is able to make all grace abound toward you
Teaching
Clear Focus, Part 8: Think Bigger (#965)

Clear Focus, Part 7: Think Big (#964)
Good morning! In today’s session, we’ll continue our series on having a clear focus. Where we try to look at those things in the scriptures that show us where to focus our minds so we don’t get any more scatter brained than we have to. We always have many things to think about, but it is possible to pick one thing to focus on, and we look at the things in God’s word that we should focus on. Today the topic will be: Thinking Big. We tend as people to think small. We have one problem in front of us and we get a little bit fixated on that, and that is all we can see. And it is important to work on issues, challenges, problems before you. But, if all you do is focus on that, you are thinking really small and you are limiting your life. Where if instead we focus on the greatness of God and the many things He can do for us, then it makes whatever challenges in front of us seem much more manageable. Perhaps even insignificant, and may not just matter at all when we see the greater things God can do for us. Picture yourself going on some big vacation, you may have tickets to get on a ship or an airplane or a train and you know you drop one cookie out of the little bag you are munching on; there may be a time, where if you were starving to death that one cookie would be terrible to lose. But, in light of this big event you have going on and everything else, it would probably be rather insignificant. You think of something bigger, and then the challenges of life may not going away, but suddenly they seem much more manageable. So, we’re going to look at thinking big. We’ll to II Chronicles 25….
As taught by Bruce Mahone 20190310.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
II Chron. 25:9                         The LORD is able to give thee much more than this
II Chron. 32:13-15; 22-23     Hezekiah
Daniel 3:16-18                       Our God is able
Daniel 6:18-23                       Is your God able?
Acts 20:25-32                        The Word of His grace is able
Romans 8:38-39                   Nothing is able to separate us
II Corinthians 9:8                  God is able to make all grace abound
Ephesian 3:20                        Able to do exceedingly abundantly above
Romans 4:20, 21                   Fully persuaded – He was able to perform
Hebrews 7:25                        Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost
(II Corinthians 1:4 -Able to comfort)
(II Corinthians 3:6 – Able ministers)
(Ephesians 6:11-18 – Armor of God)
Teaching
Clear Focus, Part 7: Think Big (#964)

Clear Focus, Part 6: Keep Seeking (#963)
Good morning! We are going to continue our series on having a clear focus for the year. We started this just before the new year began and we’ll keep it up for a number of more sessions. And the purpose of this is, so as we go about our daily lives, where there are so many distractions. We, each week, at least have at least one thing were we can clearly focus on God and His word. And there are obviously many things in God’s word, but it is hard to think of them all at once. So we try to have one or two things to think about and focus on, that we know are worthwhile and are godly. Then if everything else in life goes great, hallelujah. If things aren’t going the way we want, at least we have one thing worthwhile, biblical, and godly to focus on. And the topic this week will be to keep seeking God. And I checked back in my notes, because I have notes from several decades of teaching these Sunday morning fellowships and this is a topic I seem to teach about every other year, on average. Its just such an important one that keeps coming back. And there are many things like that in God’s word, that although we may have read about them, we sometimes get a little distracted and forget them. And to just go back and look at it again and see what else we can learn, because every time we look at something in the scriptures, we’ve grown; we have a slightly different perspective, so we see it a little different way because of the understanding of life. And, even if it comes out the same way in our minds, its still worthwhile to look at it again. So, we’re going to talk about continuing to seek God; just keep seeking. So we’ll start in Deuteronomy chapter four in verse 23.

As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20190224.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Deuteronomy 4:23-31      If you seek the Lord, you will find him (vs. 29)
I Chronicles 16:10-12        Seek the LORD and his strength
Psalms 9:9-10                     Thou hast not forsaken them that seek thee
Psalms 34:10                       The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing
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 [guilty, offended]
Psalms 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
Proverbs 8:12-21                Those that seek me (wisdom) early [diligently] shall find me (vs. 17)
Jeremiah 29:10-14              Ye shall seek me and find me (vs. 13)
Matthew 7:7-8                     Seek, and ye shall find (vs. 7)
Colossians 3:1-3                 Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth (vs. 1)
Hebrews 13:14                   Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come
Teaching
Clear Focus, Part 6: Keep Seeking (#963)

Clear Focus, Part 5: Love God (#962)
Well, welcome everybody. Here we’re going to continue our series on having a clear focus, which we want to have for this great year in 2019. We want to know what to focus on, so our brains don’t get more scattered than normal. And the last couple of sessions have focused on the love of God. One session we talked about how God loves us, another session we talked about how we should love others, and the focus today will be on the importance of us loving God. And I just remember so many times in my life just sitting there, by myself with nothing going on, and how happy I was just because I knew how much I loved God and He really loved me. And that’s really about all that mattered, because there are many other things in life besides that, but if you have that as your foundation: that you really love God and that you know He really loves you, you can get through about anything. Because so many other things in life are going to change, so many other things in life you have no control over. You know, like look at all the great political fights going on in our nation and around the world; we can have opinions on it, but we really have no control over it. So why let myself get so upset about it, because if the politics go one way or the other, I’m just going to be miserable. And, whenever any of us listen to the news, some things we’re happy about, some things we’re mad about, but we can’t do anything about it. So, we might as well be glad that God really loves us and we can really love God. And if we have that as the basis of our lives, then everything else just fits.
I got a text from somebody this week from somebody that that is going through some challenges and just said: “I’m so angry” and then she said: “how do I forgive people?” And I just told her some very simple things: well, remember how God has forgiven you; remember that Jesus Christ gave his life and shed his blood for you; but most of all, pray that God will direct your paths, so you can move on with the rest of your life. Because what has happened in the past and what other people do, you really have no control over. Because there is always stuff in the past we don’t like and there’s always people doing things we don’t like. That’s life. But, we can certainly pray that those thing will work out, but we have no control over them. So, if I decide that I’m going to have a miserable day because someone is doing something don’t like, or because something happened in the past I don’t like, I’m just going to be miserable. But if I decide that God loves me and I can love God and that is the foundation of my life, that’s always with me and nobody can take that away. I can chose to let it go out of my life, if I don’t want to focus on loving God, and I don’t want to focus on how much he loves me, but nobody can take that away.
There are a lot of other things people can take away; I’ve had jobs where the boss took it away, transferred me to a different project, laid me off, gave somebody else my job. We’ve all had that kind of thing. Or, there is a person you really like doing something with and then one day they decide that they don’t want to do that with you anymore. We’ll, that’s over. And you can get all mad about it, but it is over. So you can decide that: I’m miserable because of what that person did, or you can say: “so what, God will provide something else for me.” Look at Elijah when God told him to go tell the king, king Ahab that it wasn’t going to rain. And Ahad sent the whole army after him. We’ll God sent him out to the wilderness, by a brook; and He had the ravens cater his food for, I don’t know how long it was, for weeks of months. But then the brook ran dry, and the ravens didn’t bring food. So, what’s he going to do? He didn’t have to give up; God told him to go find that widow woman in Sidon. He went there and they had a little, a very small portion of meal, and they managed to eat off of it. He, the woman and her son for many days. God came through.
And there is always things changing in life. And obviously we want to try very hard to try to get things to go the way we want to in life and sometimes we can and a lot of times we can’t. But, what we can do is we can always love God. And we can know God always Loves us. So, that is what we’re going to have a very clear focus on today and in the weeks ahead of loving God. So, let’s start in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter six…
As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20190210.  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?
Matthew 22:34-40               First and great commandment: love God
Romans 8:28                        All things work together for good
I John 5:2-3                           For this is the love of God
Teaching
Clear Focus, Part 5: Love God (#962)