Lesson for 1/31

Greetings, the Sunday School lesson for tomorrow comes from John 11:38-44. Its titled "The Death of a Friend" Its a very familiar lesson, as it focuses on the death and resurrection of Lazarus. Before we begin, one phenomenal thing I remember, Jesus previously shared in John 6:44 He said ^"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day." I said that to say, there is a reason you are reading this right now. Yes, its a familiar passage, but God's Word can get more relevant and relational after each read. God is drawing us closer, building us up and teaching us how to love, through His Son Jesus. He chooses us! It is then up to us to accept. 
Today's lesson begins right off in verse 38 - ^"Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb." As is it brought out in previous verses, when Jesus saw the others around Him weeping at the death of Lazarus, It says in verse 33 that "He groaned in the spirit and was troubled" - I believe He felt empathy for them; as it goes on to say "Jesus wept" in verse 35. Doesn't this exemplify the love, compassion, and caring Spirit He has! Jesus then commands them to move the stone covering the cave. Martha, Lazarus' sister was concerned there would be a stench as the dead body laid there for 4 days. Jesus then replies "“Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” So true today; we shouldn't fear or be worried about the stench of life; neither overly concerned with the things we cannot change. We must believe and let God handle the situation. Once He does so, Give Him the Glory and credit He so much deserves! - Back to the scriptures, Once they removed the stone from the tomb.  41 "Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 ^"And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” If I may focus on this powerful scripture as I conclude. Jesus, does this why? So the people standing by would believe that God sent Him into the World. Its such a wonderful example of how our relationship with God should be! We should thank Him for hearing our prayer (v. 41), trust and know that He is always listening to us! (v.42)  And the last point, we should want others to see that we are Christians, Men and Women of faith, hope and love! Jesus knew God heard Him, but He said that so others can be a witness! The lesson then ends with. 43 "Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 "And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

Let God empower you! 
Be Genuine in your faith!
Be God fearing!
Pray and show love!

God bless you all -  Thanks for reading! 
In Jesus name, Amen. 

Lesson for 1/24

Hey all, the Sunday School Lesson for tomorrow come from John 2:1-12. Its titled "A Wedding in Cana" The lesson begins at a wedding taking place in Cana, this is a well-know passage, as we view it as Jesus' first (public) miracle. Mary, the Mother of Jesus was there, along with Jesus and His disciples, whom were invited. Take note that the verse 1 starts off with "now on the third day" - Flipping back to the latter verses of John 1, verses 43-51 brings out an amazing point.

⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”⁴⁸ Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?”Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Do you see this? Phillip invites Nathaniel to come see Jesus - before Nathanael even reaches Him all the way, Jesus already knows him. The same with us today, God already knows us! The everyday goal is for us to draw closer and closer to Him;and Jesus is the way! Back to John 1, Jesus goes on to eventually say "you will see greater things than these!" Now that the background is out of the way, we are found here the next day at the wedding in John 2, Mary says to Jesus "they have no wine", which after researching the time, was a really big deal. Jesus' response in verse 4 "Woman, what does your concern have to do with me, My hour has not yet come." Jesus was not being disrespectful, as it may sound to us today - I personally believe He didn't need to be told and/or people didn't openly know He was God's Messiah yet.(John 20:29-31)  Mary then tells the servants, (They are key in this) "Whatever He says to you, do it" So Jesus tells them to fill up 6 water pots up with water, pour some out and take it to the master of the feast. The master of the feast tells the bridegroom how generally all the good wine is set out in the beginning, then the cheap, "but you have kept the good wine until now" Pause - go back, look at the faith of the servants in Verses 7-8. They did exactly as Jesus had told them! Could you imagine an occasion where the servants take the master water instead of wine?? his reaction, would probably be what is this?!?! But they were obedient, and Jesus' miracle lived on. Instead of Jesus actually filling the pots Himself, He now has people to spread what they have witnessed. Ver. 11 - "This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him."

- May we all take Mary's same advice that she gave to the servants "Whatever He says to you, do it" Through Faith and obedience - comes miracles and blessings! Thanks for reading, God bless!

Lesson for 1/17

Hey all, The Sunday School lesson for tomorrow comes from the Old testament book of Hosea 1. "An unfaithful Bride" Before you proceed, please stop right now, and do a quick prayer to God for understanding............Now that is done, Im going to do my best to provide insight and direct you to the parallel I believe is shown here. Looking at Hosea 1 - Verse 2 brings out how God first spoke through Hosea, he said to him "Go marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this nation is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord." To give you an idea of what took place in that time- Hosea 4 1-2 says "“There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed."

As you read on you will see the symbolism God uses. He instructs Hosea to name His Son Jezreel, why? Because verse 4-5 brings out how God is going to "punish", "put an end to the kingdom" and "destroy the military power of Israel in the valley of Jezreel" Keep reading, Verse 6 - God tells Hosea to name the daughter Lo-Ruhamah, which means "not loved" - "because I will no longer have pity on the nation of Isreal." The verses continue on mentioning and symbolizing God's frustration and anger with the nation. BUT PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO VERSE 10! "However, IN THE FUTURE the number of the people of Isreal will be like the sand of the sea which can be neither measured nor numbered. Although it was said to them, "You are not my people, it will be said to them, "You are children of the Living God!" 11) Then the people of Judah and the people of Isreal will be gathered together. They will appoint for themselves one leader, and will flourish in the land Certainly, the day of Jezreel will be great!" After all that, why squeeze verse 10 and 11 in there now? The remaining chapters of Hosea still talk about God's wrath on Isreal. The parallel Verses 10 and 11 are pointing to is found in the book of Revelation 19: 6-10. This is SO DEEP, remember in Ephesians 5:25. Jesus said "Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her" ------------ for her, meaning for us! We (Christians, believers, followers of Christ) should be striving to be the Bride that is being mentioned in Revelation 19:6-10. Ver 7: "Let us rejoice and exult and give Him (God) glory, because the wedding celebration of the Lamb (Jesus) has come, and His Bride has made herself ready! (Us). Ver 8. "She was permitted to be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen..(for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints)"

To God be the glory for His Son Jesus!
 And as Verse 11 of Hosea says "We will be called Children of the living God" I will go deeper into the book of Revelations soon!

Don't be an unfaithful Bride! LIVE THE LIFE YOU CONFESS! If you are unsure or don't understand, continue to read, study and pray to your Heavenly Father, in the name of His Son Jesus.

God bless!

Lesson for 1/10 - Dedicated to Brittany Joyner

Hey all, the Sunday School lesson for tomorrow comes from Song of Solomon (Song of Songs) Ch 6: Verses 4-12. Its titled "The Most Beautiful Bride" As an introduction, The Song of Solomon book is also known as the Song of Songs, its complied of a love story and a series of lyrical poems. I encourage you all to read the entire book! Most say that the love story is an allegory of God’s love for humankind, or of the intensity of divine love within the human heart. I agree, and also add that God put's 2 people together for His Glory. It has been His intention from the beginning. Matthew 19:4-6 says " 4 "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' 5 and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' ? 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
 This is expressed so well in today's lesson as we start with verse 4
4 You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, (Tizrah was a well-know beautiful woman, its translated to "She is my delight")
    lovely as Jerusalem,
    awesome as an army with banners.
⁵ Turn away your eyes from me,
    for they overwhelm me—
Your hair is like a flock of goats
    leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
⁶ Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
    that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins;
    not one among them has lost its young.
⁷ Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
    behind your veil.
⁸ There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,
    and virgins without number.
⁹ My dove, my perfect one, is the only one,
    the only one of her mother,
    pure to her who bore her.
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
    the queens and concubines also, and they praised her.

¹⁰ “Who is this who looks down like the dawn,
    beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,
    awesome as an army with banners?”

¹¹ I went down to the nut orchard
    to look at the blossoms of the valley,
to see whether the vines had budded,
    whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
¹² Before I was aware, my desire set me
    among the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.

------Beautiful set of verses!--- Not many people, including myself hear or read from this book very much; definitely a change in lesson topic, and it pretty much speaks for itself! Jesus tells us to love unconditionally, may we strive to continue to follow His example and live to be used! God loves each of us..Do we admire God?

Thanks for reading, stay blessed!

Love you B.N.J.

Happy New Year - Lesson for 1/3

Hey all, the Sunday School lesson for tomorrow comes from Genesis 29:15-30.  Its titled "A Bride Worth Waiting For" This lesson exerts the rewards of diligence and patience. As you read the scriptures you will see how the blessings from God are worth the wait. Verse 20 says "20 So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her." - What a strong display of dedication and passion as Jacob works for his future bride. In life today, as we begin a new year, it is important that we hold strong and STAY dedicated to what we are promised. We often find ourselves throwing in the towel and giving up, but Philippians 3:14 reminds us to "press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Keep faith, because the beautiful thing about God is, He always holds His end of the promise, it is often us that hinder our own self from achieving excellence. 
Another beautiful point in this key verse is what took Jacob 7 years, felt only like a few days..When you are in tune and constantly feeding your faith with knowledge of God's word; your service to Him will be that of joy! We wouldn't mind waiting a "while" because we trust and read countless times in the Bible where the Lord has showed up always right on time! Just take a moment now and reflect on the times God showed up right on time in your life! 

Our Heavenly Father is WORTH LIVING FOR! His Son Jesus is THE example and we should measure our lives by Him.

Happy New Year - Faith, Patience, and Service!

God Bless!