THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB

   Not the results you anticipated or wanted? Oh well, to bad!  If you and I were God we would manipulate results to be what we wanted them to be. We would never look bad and everything we did would succeed. Every outreach would yield incredible results and everyone would always respond to our preaching. Nobody would tell us "no" and certainly nobody would "reject" us. But here is God in the flesh and he allows himself to be rejected. Jesus gives his very best outreach and the response is slim to nothing! Clearly not the “anticipated” results Jesus had wanted, but yet, He lets them be what they are.  I wouldn't do that, I wouldn't accept minimal results, at the cost of all my efforts, plus it makes me look bad, so add that in the mix. It is clear that Jesus is not at all thrilled about the results of his evangelistic efforts in Capernaum and Bethsaida. Jesus even performed miracles, yet they do not respond.  My ego would not have been able to handle this. ...

  Jacob finally ventures out after twenty years. Jacob goes on a tirade and just lets it all out on Laban, this man that has practically ruined his life. Twenty years of Jacob’s life went by under Laban. It’s hard to believe isn’t it?  Or maybe not! How easily we can be in a rut and how easily we can allow 5, 10, 15 years of our lives to slip by. I think the lesson learned here is we need to be wise who we allow ourselves to associate with. We know the quagmire can be that as Christians we are reaching out to anyone and can find ourselves in some dysfunctional relationships due to that, but we must separate the ministry of outreach from our personnel lives or we will be of no use to anyone. There is a difference between those I am reaching out to help as apposed to those that I “purposely” surround myself with in friendship and fellowship. We don’t pick who we reach out too, but we should pick very carefully who we associate ourselves with. I've seen many people that were...

   When we are naïve and foolish, we find ourselves drawn in to arguments and dramas, where we are actually fighting and arguing, over an issue, that is really, not the issue. Selfishness is not the issue with Leah, although, at first glance, it would appear that way. Rachel could have stood there and argued with Leah about how she's selfish, she's always been selfish and that's the issue and until Leah learns not to be selfish....However, that would solve nothing because the issue is not "selfishness". Leah is not withholding the mandrakes from Rachel because she's selfish. They could stand there and argue all day, as some do, about an issue, that is not the issue. Often times there is a much deeper issue than what is being argued about on a surface level. Rachel could have won the argument and Leah surrendered the mandrakes over to her sister, but the issue would not have been solved. The reason, we find out later, that Leah won't share the mandrakes wit...

L     God sees Leah in her distress, He sees that she is not loved and because of that He opens up her womb that she may have children.  God does this for one, because He cares and also, to win her love. God so wants to be loved by us.  Unfortunately all Leah can think about is Jacob. The first thing she thinks of once she becomes pregnant, is NOT, "how gracious is my God and how I love him so"; instead, Leah just thinks about Jacob and how perhaps Jacob will now love her. It's ironic how she's hurt because she so loves Jacob, but yet Jacob does not love her back with the same love and yet she does the very same thing towards God. Every blessing God gives her she only thinks about how she can use it to win Jacob's heart, totally ignoring the fact that God is wanting that love. We so long to be fulfilled by a relationship, a career or something else and we are completely blind to the God that has been there for us, seen us, blessed us, when nobody else saw o...

    This is the hope we must have for our children. Isaac, a rugged man, "I am my own man,  I am not  going to follow in my dad's footsteps"...long story short, he ends up re digging the wells of his father; and even more significant gives them  the same names!  This is the turning point and break thru in Isaac's life. You will notice it is just a little later, after this decision to re-dig his father's wells and give them the same names, that God appears to him and says, "I am the God of your father Abraham."  This is our hope, that God reveals himself to our children.  We will not intellectually convert them, we will not even convert them by our perfect example. We cannot provide them a perfect example because we are flawed and if they are looking for a reason not to serve God they will just wait for us to slip and then use that as their excuse and we will feel condemned. We need to be intellectually sound concerning matters to the bible an...

     "When he heard this he bowed down to the ground and worshiped the Lord"   Venturing out for God is what keeps us worshiping the Lord. As scary and uncertain as this venture was for this servant, it reinvigorated his relationship with God. Who knows if back at home he was sliding into spiritual lethargy and just becoming more religious than anything.  The less we venture out for God, the more distant we grow from Him and the closer we get to becoming religious. When we venture out for God and leave the comfort zone is when we see the hand of God at work and that is so vital and healthy in our relationship with the Lord. This servant was amazed to see the providential hand of God directing him right to this woman, a complete impossibility in the natural realm, but a complete possibility with God. I want you, quickly, off the top of your head to name 5 Christians you personally know, that are venturing out for God right now! Hard isn't it? Now I want you ...