1 Samuel 1 - God Hears the Humble of Heart

1 Samuel 1 - God Hears the Humble of Heart (Pew Bible 225)

Introduction

Samuel is considered one of the Historical Books of the Old Testament and would be under the Prophets category in the standard three-fold division of the Old Testament. Samuel is not separated into two books in the traditional grouping of the Old Testament. 1 Samuel covers the time from around 1100 BC to 1010 BC.

We do not know the human author, but the book is named after the main character Samuel. Samue

Advent - Peace - Jesus as Priest

Advent - Peace - Jesus as Priest

Advent means ______________  or ___________________

Each year, we enter Advent season and ask the Lord to prepare our hearts to celebrate the Christmas season by looking back at Jesus’ first coming. As we prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus’ first coming, we look at different themes each week. These themes of hope, love, joy, and peace help us rightly focus during the busyness of the holiday season on the true reason for the Christmas seaso

Advent - Joy - Jesus as King

Advent - Jesus as King (Joy) 

Matthew 13:44–46 (ESV)

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. 

The man who finds the treasure has such great joy that the treasure means more to Him than

Advent - Love - Jesus as Savior

Advent 2022 - Jesus as Savior - Love (1023)

Advent means “coming” or “arriving.” Each year we enter advent season and ask the Lord to prepare our hearts to celebrate the Christmas season by looking back at Jesus’ first coming. As we prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus’ first coming, we look at different themes each week. These themes of hope, love, joy, and peace help us rightly focus during the busyness of the holiday season on the true reason for the Christmas season. 

T

Advent - Hope - Jesus as Prophet

Advent 2022 - Jesus as Prophet - Hope 

Advent means “coming” or “arriving.” Each year we enter advent season and ask the Lord to prepare our hearts to celebrate the Christmas season by looking back at Jesus’ first coming. As we prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus’ first coming, we look at different themes each week. These themes of hope, love, joy, and peace help us rightly focus during the busyness of the holiday season on the true reason for the Christmas season. 

There

1 Timothy 6:17-21 - Guard the Good Deposit

1 Timothy 6:17-21 - Guard the Good Deposit (994)

Paul seems to add a postscript to his letter to young Timothy and the church at Ephesus. The letter seemed to be finished and ended with a beautiful doxology, but then, the Apostle Paul added these four verses. 

V-17 - Paul begins by adding clarity and more warning to the topic of wealthy Christians. This shows us that not only should we expect there to be Christians who are wealthy, but it is not a bad thing for them to be we

1 Timothy 6:11-16 - Don’t Flirt. Rather, Flee

1 Timothy 6:11-16 - Don’t Flirt, Rather Flee! 

Our justification (being right with God) is monergistic. This means God saves us. We respond in faith.   

Our sanctification (becoming more like Jesus) is synergistic. This means God works and we work.

“The Holy Spirit works in us and upon us… He works in us and with us, not against us or without us.” - John Owen

Our growth is directly tied to the Spirit’s work in our lives in conjunction with God’s Word. It is not the idea of “Le

1 Timothy 6:1-10 - Your Love for the World Will Kill You

1 Timothy 6:1-10 - Your Love for the World Will Kill You

Vv. 1–2 

• As a Christian, the way you work and treat those above you in authority reflects God.  

• If your boss or those above you in authority are believers, this should drive you to serve even better. 

Vv. 3-10

False teachers are consistently linked to:

• Different doctrines

• Ungodly living

• Love of money and material things 

• Pride and arrogance

The false teachers in Ephesus were bringing disunity and quarrels. They fo

Psalm 119 - Is this me? Is this you? - Reformation Day

Psalm 119 - Is This Me? Is This You? Reformation Day 2022

The Protestant Reformation was the attempt by many pastors, monks, theologians, and other Christians to reform the Roman Catholic Church. This happened over a span of a few centuries. Really from the 1300’s - 1600’s Christians fought to reform the church. The term Protestant comes from the idea that they “protested” against the Romans Catholic Church’s teachings. This collective protest happened in several countries

1 Timothy 5:17-25 - Time Will Tell All

1 Timothy 5:17-25 - Time Will Tell All

“As leaders go, so goes the church.” 

Time will tell if you are honoring your elders well (vv 17-18)

• All elders are to rule the church. This means they are tasked with overseeing the church and making sure that it is functioning as it should be according Scripture. They oversee the church in a similar way that the elders of Israel oversaw the synagogues. 

• This denotes an authority that elders have and the congregation should submit to

1 Timothy 5:3-16 - Care for Widows, Learn from Widows

1 Timothy 5:3-16 - Care for the Widows, Learn from the Widows

Things have changed

The care of orphans, widows, the poor, sojourners, and helpless has always been given to God’s people. The nation of Israel was suppose to do this and the church is supposed to do this. It is part of “doing justice.” This is a bit foreign for us today because things have changed so much from the times of the Bible for Western Christians. Here are four reasons to why this has changed:

• The gover

1 Timothy 5:1-2 - The Kindness in the Family

1 Timothy 5:1-2 - Kindness in the Family 

Let’s begin with reminding ourselves that we are part of God’s family. We have been adopted into God’s family because of Jesus.

Ephesians 1:3–6 (ESV): 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for

1 Timothy 4:11-16 - Keep Watch

1 Timothy 4:11-16 - Keep Watch 

V-11 - Timothy is supposed to teach the things listed in this passage to the church at Ephesus. He is to command that the Christians in Ephesus obey what He is teaching. Not because Timothy himself is the authority, but because the Word of God (coming through the Apostle Paul) is authoritative. 

V-12 - Timothy was a teenager when he first joined the Apostle Paul on his missionary journeys. Now, Timothy is probably in his late twenties or early

1 Timothy 4:1-10 - The Savior of All

1 Timothy 4:1-10 - The Savior of All 

1 Timothy 4:1–10 (ESV): 4 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothin

1 Timothy 3:14-16 - The Church of the Living God

1 Timothy 3:14–16 (ESV): 14 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, 15 if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. 16 Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, 

seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. 

In this passage,