By Bible Passage

  • Acts 16, Part 5

    Building Spiritual Confidence as We Watch the Lord Build His Church.

    As Timothy accompanied Paul, Luke and Silas on their second missionary journey, he had a lot to learn. His role was an observer as he followed his spiritual leader. He saw what great things God can do through a few gifted people.

  • Acts 16, Part 4

    Learning Boldness, Part 4.

    Last week we saw how Timothy learned and adopted the gospel burden of his spiritual leader and mentor, the apostle Paul. A “gospel burden” is a believer’s natural desire to share Christ with others. God’s designed this burden to be fulfilled first through personal evangelism, then through churches reaching their local community, and finally spreading the gospel message through the world.

  • Acts 16, Part 3

    Learning Boldness, Part 3.

    A pastoral candidate was asked, “What do you have to offer our church?” His answer was only, “my weakness.” It’s an excellent answer. We only minister by God’s strength and His grace. Supernatural humility helps us overcome natural timidity. Someone once said, “Anxiety is the absence of humility, and humility is the absence of anxiety.”

  • Acts 16, Part 2

    Learning Boldness, Part 2.

    Understanding the minutiae of Timothy’s life will help us understand the letters Paul wrote to help him oversee the pastor-shepherds of Ephesus. Timothy knew the Scriptures and came to Christ early in his life (2 Timothy 1:5, 3:15). From what we see in Scripture, Timothy was always a timid man. But his life teaches us that timidity is never an excuse not to minister. Everyone experiences a degree of fear when giving the Gospel or ministering publically. We must not let it keep us from obeying God.

  • Acts 16

    Learning Boldness

    Timothy’s life is instructive as we learn to live worship-filled lives in 2015. He certainly demonstrates a worship-filled life even though we have not yet seen him in a formal worship setting!

  • Acts 14

    From Timidity to Boldness: The Making of a Christian Servant

    We continue to study Timothy’s salvation history and character in preparation for understanding two pastoral letters written to him. Timothy’s life shows that we have no Gospel unless we have a changed lifestyle. Even when it becomes scary to serve the Lord, we step out in faith into the unfamiliar.

  • Acts 14:8-23

    Introducing the Character of Timothy.

    Our theme for the year is Living Worship-Filled Lives. Romans 12:1-2 exhorts us to present our whole selves to God as a logical act of worship. This includes times of corporate worship and personal worship in prayer and reading God’s Word. But we also worship as we go about our lives, showing the fruit of what we’ve learned. The integrity of our lives should mirror how we worship on the Lord’s Day.

    As we prepare to study the Pastoral Epistles, we’ll begin by learning about Timothy, to whom Paul wrote two letters. Understanding Timothy’s character helps us understand the content of the letters written to him.

  • Genesis 50

    Lives that God Uses to Influence Eras.

    Genesis 50 is the conclusion to chapters 47-49. It’s a chapter of two funerals for two men of faith. A life lived with simple integrity most influences the lives of those who follow. Jacob and Joseph left a legacy of faith for their family in three simple ways:

  • Genesis 49

    The Virtues of Family Blessing.

    The book of Genesis begins and ends with family. The failure of the first family, Adam and Eve, brought sin into the world. But God’s grace can reverse the effects of sin in the family.

    In Genesis 48, Jacob legally adopted Joseph’s sons and gave them a blessing. In this chapter, he tells his sons what will happen in their futures. His words do come true. Some of Jacob’s sons’ families were permanently troubled or blessed; some were temporarily, individually troubled but later restored. All had the opportunity to respond to the grace of God.

  • Genesis 48

    The Virtues and Value of Spiritual Legacy.

  • Genesis 46-47

    The Virtues of Our Christian Pilgrimage.

  • Galatians 4:1-7

    When Faith Became Sight!

    Pastor Kent Hobi

    Do you ever wonder if all the things we believe as Christians will ever come true? Generations of God’s people come and go, and we still groan under the task of becoming who we are in Christ. Will our faith ever be sight?

  • Genesis 44-45, Part 2

    Servant Leaders Value Spiritual Relationships at the Deepest Level.

  • Genesis 44-45

    Servant Leaders Embrace the Value of Spiritual Relationships.

  • Genesis 43

    Divine Patience with Our Spiritual Growth.

    This passage shows the spiritual change of three individuals – Jacob, Judah, and Joseph. Two of them had made significant mistakes in their younger years, yet God showed patience with them. By His grace, they progressed in their maturity and now show virtues of obedience. This can encourage us not to measure spiritual growth by hours, a day, or even a month of a person’s life. Instead, look at big-picture growth. Do you know God more than you did a year ago? Are you more Christ-like?

  • Genesis 42

    Holding Position with Integrity: God’s Plan for the Advancement of His Eternal Cause.

    From Genesis 42, we can learn about wise stewardship, political leadership, and the fact that sin will always find you out. But the main focus of this chapter is a servant leader who lives faithfully wherever God puts him because he knows he has a divine purpose.

  • Genesis 41

    Finding God’s Divine Purpose through Glory or Agony.

    As Joseph waited in prison, God still had not brought to pass the dream He gave Joseph when he was 17 years old (Gen. 37). Joseph was now 30 years old and had spent over half of his life waiting for God to fulfill His promise that he would rule over his brothers. Meanwhile, he has been faithful with what God has given him, both position and promises. From his youth, Joseph was faithful to God’s Word, even when it got him in trouble. And in His own timing, God would exalt him.

  • Genesis 40

    Communion with God alone is enough to help us all combat discouragement.

    According to statistics, about 5% of people across the globe suffer from depression, and over 10% of Americans are depressed. Sometimes depression has a physical cause; sometimes it is caused by circumstances. When our circumstances threaten to discourage us, God’s remedy is spiritual. Though you might not guess on the first read, Joseph’s story in Genesis 40 tells us how to avoid depression and discouragement in our Christian walk.

  • Psalm 26

    God, Our Enemies, and Spiritual Stability.

  • Genesis 39

    Having Nothing But Having Everything.

    At the start of Genesis 39, Joseph’s resume isn’t likely to earn him an audience with anyone in power. He was the least popular child in his home, constantly bullied, but lived for truth and was not known as a liar. His resume would tell the story of being a victim of child trafficking, purchased as a slave but maintaining his responsibility before the Lord, before having everything taken away because he resisted temptation to be immoral. Joseph was viewed as a commodity by everyone around him, but hand of the Lord was with him wherever he went.