Micah the prophet

Micah the prophet wrote of his vision from God. Micah's letter was written to warn God's people to repent. Micah wanted the people to realize the love of God, recognize their sins (fraud, theft, greed, debauchery, oppression, hypocrisy, heresy, injustice, extortion, lying,, murder, etc.) and rely on God to forgive them and change their hearts.



In chapter 5 (our teaching lesson for this week) Micah foretells the coming of Jesus Christ. This chapter provides one of the clearest Old Testament prophecies of Christ's coming.



vs. 2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, who's origins are from of old, from ancient times."



vs. 5 "And he will be their peace."



vs. 5.......we will raise against him seven shepherds, even eight leaders of men.



What Micah means is that God will bring good leaders when he returns to reign.



Micah pleads with Gods chosen to repent. The Lord is coming. Repent. Put your trust in the Lord. Instead of being overwhelmed with fear we should put our trust in God and have confidence God will provide all military and monetary mite.



This just sits right with me, here, were I am right now. Why fret and worry about were the economy is going, etc., etc. With the knowledge and trust of Gods justice (foretold thousands of years ago). He will save His chosen. I am one of His chosen.



Thank you Lord for choosing me.



Amen



In Him.......



Laurie

Temptation

1 Samuel 11 is the story of David and Bathsheba.

I had to wonder, how David could fall into this temptation? All that God trusted him with and he fell victim to a women? He had everything a man could desire. All the women he wanted. All the riches he wanted. Yet the one thing he could not have. A married women. He could not live without.

Or could he?

David allowed himself to fall deeper and deeper into sin. David allowed himself to be caught up in what tempted him most. What David did not do was let God guide him through his spiral into sin.

Did you know that God protects us from temptations that are to much for us to handle? (1 Cor. 10:13) God never allows a temptation to cross our path that He has not equipped us to handle.

So how can a man so close to God, a man that trusted God for his entire life fall victim to temptation?

David was not much different than you and I. David faced temptation every day. Just like you and I. David was a great king. He was tempted. David got caught up in his sin and let it blind him from the goodness God had for him. Of course God forgave David. But God also showed David that he had to live with the consequences of his actions.

No different than us. We all have temptations. We live with them daily. Our selfish desires make us fall deeper and deeper into sin. Just like David. God gives us protection. Ephesians 6:10-20 tells us that God gives us an armor to protect us from the enemy. Put it on when you are faced with the temptations of sin. Temptations will come. Remember it is not if, it is when.

Learn what your temptations are. Learn what armor God has given you. Put it on. Don’t be afraid it won’t fit. I may take a little getting use to, but it will fit. Just like a good workout, tough to get through but when it is over you feel strong, refreshed and glad you persevered and finished.

May God bless the remainder of your week and you find your armor.

In Him........

Laurie

The truth will set you free.

This month in LHC Kids we are talking about Honesty/Truth. We are tying it all together by teaching about the prophets.

I want to talk about our memory verse.

Every month we teach a scripture to the children. This month is:

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32

Read this scripture and go beyond verse 32.

I read beyond and I got frustrated. What does it take to convince people who Jesus is?

I get like that with people I know that do not believe. Then of course, I need to eat some humble pie.

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

How many times have I known the truth and hung on to it? Like I know better than God? Like I can fix it better than God? How many times do I feel like I need to keep the control? Even though I know if I let God take hold of it He will set me free.

Sometimes humble pie brings God's word to a point that stings a bit. But it helps me grow!

Thank you all for hearing my crazy in sites into God's word.

I hope you enjoy your walk this week.

See you Sunday!

In Him........

Laurie

Love In Action

You are never to young to take initiative and fill a need. Here is a great story about a freshman basketball player at Clemson, Tanner Smith, who has started a non-profit in 6th grade. His group provides goodies bags to kids with cancer.

Doug

Believing - John 3:16

This week is our last week on love.



What a perfect verse to end this lesson.



For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16



Probably the most memorized verse in the Bible. You see it at sporting events, flashed from the crowds. Athletes paint it on their cheek bones. It is the summation of our Christian walk.



But what does it really mean?



Did you realize that this was Jesus talking to Nicodemus? Nicodemus was a religious leader of the day who snuck to see Jesus in the night so no one else could see him. Nicodemus knew the old testament inside and out but guess what? He had no idea how to handle Jesus. Jesus was talking about things that Nicodemus never heard before. Believing? Faith? Trust? Nicodemus and the other religious leaders were teaching the people how to live by following the law. It had nothing to do with believing, faith and trust! And what about love?



Jesus waists no time. Jesus witnesses to Nicodemus. 1st he tells him he must be born again (save that for another blog). 2nd Jesus tells Nicodemus about His father. What His father has done for us. He talks to Nicodemus about why we must believe.



For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16



Rest on what Jesus is telling Nicodemus. Jesus is telling Nicodemus (us) that His father (God) made the ultimate sacrifice. He sacrificed His only son (Jesus). From that, God expects something from us. God wants us to believe that this is true. He wants us to trust Him. He made the ultimate sacrifice so we would believe that we can trust Him to unconditionally love us.



That is the love God wants back from us. Not all the things we do. Not all the Bible studies we are in or how many serving teams we are on. Not how nice we are to our neighbors or the snitty grocery store clerk. God wants us to believe unconditionally in Him. Just like He believes unconditionally in us.



He says right here in John 3:16 that if we believe, we will not perish, we will have eternal life. That means we cannot leave anything uncovered or hidden. We cannot believe or trust a little bit. We cannot keep some of control and only give God a little. No, He wants it all. AND IF we do that (love this) God promises eternal life. Not here mind you. Eternal life in paradise.



I ask you. Who doesn't want that?



I love all of you! I pray for unconditional love. Whatever you are holding on to. Put it at His feet. Tell me how it feels!

See you Sunday!

In Him.......



Laurie

Peter before the Sanhedrin

Acts 4:1-22



More love as we continue our month of love. The children will have candy hearts on the brain this Sunday. They have had Valentines party's at preschool and school, made valentines for Dad, Mom, Grandma and Grandpa and all their precious teachers. Love is in the air for our kiddo's this Sunday.



Truly this is the biggest day of Love for our children.



So how do we tie in Peter before the Sanhedrin on Valentines weekend?



Well....glad you asked. Some things that spoke to me..........



Peter (and John) were very passionate and vocal about sharing the message of Christ wherever they went. This upset a lot of people. Especially the religious leaders of the day.



Yet this did not sway them from preaching and healing wherever they went.



When you are passionate about something we say we LOVE it!!! We love to talk about it. We love to do it and we LOVE to tell others about it.



For Peter and John their passion was their love for spreading the news of Christ. They loved it so much that getting thrown in jail didn't stop them.



vs. 13 The leaders saw how bold Peter and John were.



Their love was obvious to everyone who heard or saw them.



The leaders ordered them to leave and never talk about Jesus again.



They respond in vs. 19-20 "Judge for yourselves. Which is right from God's point of view? Should we obey you? Or God? There's nothing else we can do. We have to speak about the things we've seen and heard."



They love d Jesus so much they could not tell the leaders (lie) they wouldn't do it any more. They had to talk about Jesus. They had to spread the word.



That is how much they loved him.



Have a Lovely Valentines Day!



In Him.........



Laurie

Peter, do you love me?

John 21:15-25

We are teaching the children about love this month through the life of Peter.

This is a great story about how we love our King. Also how we show our love. Is it just talk. "Oh, I love Jesus."

Jesus asks Peter 3 times.......

...........Peter do you love me? I always struggle with this. Well (I can see Peter saying this to himself), if you didn't believe me the first time why would you trust me the 2nd and 3rd time you asked me?

Here is what I found out, Jesus asked this question 3 times with 3 different meanings.

1st. Peter do you love me (truly love, agape love) more than these. (vs. 15)
2nd Peter do you love me (Jesus). (vs. 16)
3rd Peter do you love me (affection, brotherly love). (vs. 17)

Summarize.....

Peter do you love me (Jesus) more than anything else. Peter is it Jesus you love? Peter am I(Jesus) your friend?

So put your name in place of Peter's and ask yourself the questions Jesus asked Peter.

Is Jesus first in your life? Is He the one you show your love to? Do you treat Him as your friend?

Peace to you this remaining week. I hope to see you Sunday!

Laurie