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DIGGING DEEPER STUDY GUIDE FOR NOVEMBER 25-30 FOLLOWING THE THANKSGIVING MESSAGE PSALM 136

11/25/2013

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Monday - God's Goodness - Psalm 34:8 
This passage of scripture speaks of tasting to see that the Lord is good. How do we begin to taste that something is good? We rely on our senses to determine the quality and level of goodness. With the Lord, we must rely on our spiritual senses to understand how good He is. In the Old Testament it speaks of the Promise Land as a land that flowed with milk and honey which brought to mind two of the essential for living, the fertile and the sweet or good. Things done for the Lord are fertile and grow, and that type of obedience is pleasant to the soul.

Tuesday - Thanksgiving - Philippians 4:4-6 
Paul's message here is that as we follow the Lord in ever deepening relationship, we can live a life that is joyful, able to put up with a lot without being anxious but trusting in the Lord. Having a peace within that passes the understanding of this world because it gives us the assurance that we can bring all things to God in prayer and supplication, thanking Him for the answers that are on the way.

Wednesday - Mercy - Titus 3:5 
We ought to be thankful for when it comes down to the truth, the Lord saved us not because or through what we have done but because of His own compassionate mercy. He washes us with the water of baptism for the forgiveness of sins and renews us through the cleansing of the spirit by way of the fire of the Holy Spirit, purging us to a wonderful, amazing purity.

Thursday - God's Wisdom - Romans 11:33 
Paul was in awe of the depth of the wisdom (understanding and knowledge) of God, because of how He could know what we are and will go through; how we faced the pressures; and what the outcome will be. And in His richness of love, forgive and reveal His plan and way for us to follow letting us know that He knew all along what was needed. God's unfathomable ways are something else.

Friday - God's Judgment - Psalm 36:6 
The Psalmist came to realize and be amazed by the long suffering of the Creator of mankind. David was amazed and yet so thankful for the way God held back His judgment against men, giving them every opportunity to return to Him. Yet we know that God's judgment will be true and will come upon both the righteous and the unrighteous according to His design, His plan, His commandments. It is a part of His will and covenant.

Saturday - God Remembers - Isaiah 49:15-16 
The prophet gives us the message from God that He does not forget us or forsakes us, but remembers us in such a close relationship that it is like a good mother with her newborn child. The prophet lets us know that that mother, good mother, would forget her child long before our Lord in heaven would forget about us. And He has the imprints in His hands to prove it.

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DIGGING DEEPER STUDY GUIDE FOR NOVEMBER 18-23 FOLLOWING THE MESSAGE FROM JOHN 1:11-13; 1 JOHN 3:1-3

11/17/2013

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Monday - Spiritual Adoption - Romans 8:15

As we come to Christ to live in relationship with Him, we count ourselves as slaves to a Master worthy of our every effort, but God has brought it about that you and I have been given a special gift. That gift is a spirit not of slavery or bondage, but of family. Accepting us as His children, He allows us to possess His Spirit within us that make us His family, able to call Him, "Abba or Poppa Father."

Tuesday - Children of God - Romans 8:14

When we allow that gift of the Spirit to guide and direct our lives, drawing us deeper into the family of God, we show ourselves to be the children of God. God claims us as His own, and His Holy Spirit within us is the proof of that claim. His Spirit brings us into such a special relationship that we begin to take on the family resemblance. We are seen as His.

Wednesday - Regeneration - John 3:3

Jesus has shared from the very beginning that the need in our hearts, that which can fill the void, His Spirit, can only come to us if we come to Him to be born again. The work of redemption must take place in our lives for us to have that relationship which will allow us to join our Father, Abba Father, in heaven. We cannot even begin to imagine, let alone comprehend, what the kingdom of God is all about without the work of regeneration taking place in our souls.

Thursday - God the Father - Isaiah 64:9

,God wants to bring all of this about (the idea of adoption, the gift of His Spirit, new birth), but He will not force His way into our lives. God stands there as the Father who waits for His wayward child to come home, ready to mold us, putting the pieces of our lives back together to make us whole. To have that happen, we must come to that point where we not only acknowledge Him as God the Father, but that we accept Him as our God the Father. As Isaiah wrote, we must surrender to be the clay in the Master Potter's hands. As He works in us and with us, we become the working of a great and mighty God, who loves us as a Father.

Friday - God's Love -1 John 4:9,16

The key to the adoption of believers by God is His love for each and every one as if they were the only one. God sees us as little ones worthy of His love to the point of sending His One and Only Son so that we could find life in Him and become God's children. And we come to that point where we knowingly rely upon that love from God to be the binding force in our relationship with Him. He has poured out His love upon us in abundance. Oh how amazing the love of God is for us.

Saturday - Christlikeness - Romans 8:29 

It has been God's plan all along (planned before hand and laid out that opportunity before us) that we would be able to become His children once again and be a part of the family of God. His molding work in our lives brings about that character of Christ Jesus in us to the point of us being seen like Christ Jesus, the Son of God.

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DIGGING DEEPER BIBLE STUDY GUIDE FOR NOVEMBER 4-9 AFTER THE MESSAGE FROM ACTS 15:6-11

11/3/2013

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Monday - Hearts Searched -1 Chronicles 28:9 
In this passage of scripture Solomon is being told of the ability of God to know the heart of a man. God knew his intentions, his attitudes, and desires. We know that Jesus also had the ability to know what was in the minds and hearts of those who were around Him, interacting with Him. He knew the hearts of the Gentiles who believed and that is why they were given the Holy Spirit. It is the same with us today, He knows our hearts.

Tuesday-Spiritual Cleansing-John 15:3; 1 Corinthians 6:11
In these two passages of scripture we see how by the Word, the Truth, Jesus brought about the spiritual cleansing that was needed by the disciples and followers of Jesus. Later, Paul shares with the church in Corinth that they have been cleansed by the workings of the Lord in their lives through salvation's work against sins committed, sanctifies by the Spirit bringing Christ-likeness into our hearts; justification by the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit recreating our hearts and lives by the removal of our old selves and the putting on of the new.

Wednesday - Saving Grace - Romans 3:24 
Peter's argument in the Acts passage from Sunday was that the redemptive work of Christ, of dying on the cross, brought about the salvation by faith in the lives of both the Gentiles that believed and the Jews who were a part of the Church by faith as well.  Peter shared that he had been brought to that knowledge through a vision granted to him by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and that the witness of the giving of the Holy Spirit was enough for him to believe.

Thursday - Ceremonialism - Galatians 4:9 
Paul here is sharing with the Galatians that they have been freed from the traditions of those who do not really believe but want to dictate how a person comes into the fellowship of the church. These were the Judaizers who wanted all believers to become Jews first and then Christian believers. It was the ceremonies and keeping of their traditions that was most important to them.

Friday - Salvation - Romans 5:9 
Here Paul shares that we have been saved through being made just by the shedding of Jesus' blood and in turn we are saved through that work of bringing new life to all, a life apart from the wrath of God because of Christ loving work of reconciliation.

Saturday - Only Savior - Acts 4:12 
When earlier confronted by the Sanhedrin, Peter shares that salvation, the forgiveness of sins, can be found nowhere else but in the name of Jesus. Thinking of the very teachings of Jesus, Peter shares that God loved the world so much that God gave His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ, to bring about the forgiveness and the gift of everlasting life. Peter makes sure that they knew there is no other name under heaven, in existence by which we are to be saved.

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    Study guides provided by Pastor, Dr. David Shirer

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