My Notes

Pearl of Great Price The Kingdom of God is explained by various parables. The Kingdom of God is likened to a great Pearl Verse: Matthew 13:45‭-‬46   45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls.  46 When he discovered a pearl of great value , he sold everything he owned and bought it! The value of the pearl could be only judged by the merchant. The merchant is a seeker and he seeks out for pearls in markets that has the source from the sea. Here symbolically speaking here are the three elements and the explanation Merchant: Jesus Pearl: People of God Sea: the world Jesus is looking to draw our treasures from you and I Jesus as the Merchant The process of the formation of the pearl will require for a foreign object that enters the oyster. It is only then that the formation starts.  And so it is with the church and the people of God while on earth. There will be difficult times while we are here. But the difficult times are the times ...

 The Family Altar The altar is a old testament word .... it was a place where God and man met.   Abraham had encounters with God and he built 4 altars Genesis 12:7 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him. Genesis 12:8 8 After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord.  Genesis 13:14-18 18 So Abram moved his camp to Hebron and settled near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. There he built another altar to the Lord. Genesis 22:9-11 9 When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Definition: Altar is system/setup for legal point of contact between ...

 Authentic Spirituality Verse: Matthew 7:21‭-‬23 21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.  22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’  23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ The three verses have three things we will learn Outwardness - Verse 21 Giftedness Verse 22 Lostness - Verse 23 Outwardness Often times, we are bothered by our outwardness. We are concerned by what other people think of us. And so sometimes, we remind ourselves with catchy statements.    Talk the talk: Wisdom.... we like smart and clever speech..... But speech without action is undesirable Walk the talk: The genuine walk is when we live it ..... This is what the world would like to see Talk the walk: We talk about other ...

 Yet not I, but Christ in me Life is a journey that has its ups and down. The ups are blessings of God. The downs are testing and challenging times. But God is sovereign and he brings us through different experience with each experience shaping us. However testing and temptation is different. Temptation is from the devil  Verse: James 1:14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. But God's testing makes you a better person Verse: Job 23:10 “But he knows where I am going. And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold. The passage we will consider to study testing is Abraham when he was asked to sacrifice Issac Passage: Genesis 22 Why God tested Abraham? God tested Abraham several times. There were times when Abraham when he failed.... God promised a son through Sarah.... but he made arrangement for a son through Hagar. But God tested him with Issac his son for Abraham to discover how he has matured in faith. God wanted to rejoice along wi...