Posted in Bible study, LGG Study

Draw Near: Week2, Thursday Draw Near to God and …

Today’s Scripture – Jer 29:12-14; James 4:8 (SOAP: James 4:8)

Jeremiah 29:12-14

In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 14 I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”

James 4:8

Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.

Posted in Bible study, LGG Study

Draw Near: Week 2, Wednesday What Do I See

Today’s Scripture – Psalm 19:4-6; John 1:14-18 (SOAP: John 1:14)

John 1:14-18

So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

15 John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’”

16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.17 For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.

Please don’t miss today’s blog, it is a crucial element of the Draw Near Study.

Posted in Bible study, LGG Study

Draw Near: Week 2, Friday Created by Him

Today’s Scripture – Ps 19:4-6; Colossians 1:15-20 (SOAP: Colossians 1:15-16)

Psalm 19:4-6

Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
    and their words to all the world.

God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.
It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding.
    It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race.
The sun rises at one end of the heavens
    and follows its course to the other end.
    Nothing can hide from its heat.

Colossians 1:15-20 Christ Is Supreme

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
    He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,[a]
16 for through him God created everything
    in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
    and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
    Everything was created through him and for him.

17 He existed before anything else,
    and he holds all creation together.
18 Christ is also the head of the church,
    which is his body.
He is the beginning,
    supreme over all who rise from the dead.[b]
    So he is first in everything.
19 For God in all his fullness
    was pleased to live in Christ,
20 and through him God reconciled
    everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
    by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

Don’t miss today’s teaching by Melissa, as she focuses on observation insight. Click the Blog button below.

Posted in Bible study, LGG Study

Draw Near: Week 2- Tuesday The Invisible Made Visible

Today’s Scripture: Romans 1:18-21; 1 Timothy 2:3-4 (SOAP: Romans 1:20)

God’s Anger at Sin Romans 1:18-21

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.

1 Timothy 2:3-4

This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.

Posted in Bible study, LGG Study

Draw Near: Week 2 – Monday What’s the Genre?

Today’s Scripture – Psalm 19:4-6; Colossians 2:1-10 (SOAP: Psalm 19:4-6)

Psalm 19:4-6

Their message has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.

In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun.
It is like a groom coming from the bridal chamber;
it rejoices like an athlete running a course.
It rises from one end of the heavens
and circles to their other end;
nothing is hidden from its heat.

Colossians 2:1-10

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me in person. I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery—Christ.[a] All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him.

Christ versus the Colossian Heresy

I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments. For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.

Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, overflowing with gratitude.

Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ. For the entire fullness of God’s nature[b] dwells bodily[c] in Christ, 10 and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

*note – The Blog is a vital piece of this particular study and will be included on M-W-F posts.

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Posted in Bible study, LGG Study

Draw Near: Week 1, Friday SOAP Bible Study Method

Today’s Scripture – Psalm 19:1-3; Psalm 104:24-25 (SOAP: Psalm 104:24-25)

Psalm 19 A Psalm of David

The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
    The skies display his craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
    night after night they make him known.
They speak without a sound or word;
    their voice is never heard.[a]

Psalm 104:24-25

 O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!
    In wisdom you have made them all.
    The earth is full of your creatures.
25 Here is the ocean, vast and wide,
    teeming with life of every kind,
    both large and small.

Posted in Bible study, LGG Study

Draw Near: Week 1, Thursday

Today’s Scripture – Psalm 95; Job 38:4-5 (SOAP: Job 38:4-5)

Psalm 95

Come, let us sing to the Lord!
    Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
    Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
For the Lord is a great God,
    a great King above all gods.
He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
    and the mightiest mountains.
The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
    His hands formed the dry land, too.

Come, let us worship and bow down.
    Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
    for He is our God.
We are the people He watches over,
    the flock under His care.

If only you would listen to his voice today!
The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah,
    as they did at Massah in the wilderness.
For there your ancestors tested and tried My patience,
    even though they saw everything I did.
10 For forty years I was angry with them, and I said,
‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from Me.
    They refuse to do what I tell them.’
11 So in My anger I took an oath:
    ‘They will never enter My place of rest.’”

Job 38:4-5

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
    Tell me, if you know so much.
Who determined its dimensions
    and stretched out the surveying line?

Posted in Bible study, LGG Study

Draw Near: Week 1, Wednesday Why Inductive Bible Study?

Today’s Scripture – Psalm 19:1-3; Psalm 96:10-13 (SOAP: Psalm 96:1-10)

Psalm 19 A psalm of David.

The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
    The skies display his craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
    night after night they make him known.
They speak without a sound or word;
    their voice is never heard

Psalm 96:10-13

 Tell all the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
    The world stands firm and cannot be shaken.
    He will judge all peoples fairly.

11 Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice!
    Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
12 Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy!
    Let the trees of the forest sing for joy
13 before the Lord, for he is coming!
    He is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with justice,
    and the nations with his truth.

Posted in Bible study, LGG Study

Draw Near: Week 1, Tuesday

Today’s Scripture – Job 12:7-10; John 1:1-3 (SOAP: John 1:1-3)

Job 12:7-10

 “Just ask the animals, and they will teach you.
    Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you.
    Let the fish in the sea speak to you.
For they all know
    that my disaster[a] has come from the hand of the Lord.
10 For the life of every living thing is in his hand,
    and the breath of every human being.

In the beginning the Word already existed.
    The Word was with God,
    and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through Him,
    and nothing was created except through Him.

John 1:1-3 Christ, the Eternal Word

Posted in From the Insideout, God is good, Prayer Starters

Beckoned to Draw Near …

Father, You are Good! And Your goodness beckons me to draw near. My heart longs to walk closer and closer to You in this world of hurts and disappointments. Hurts and disappointments not just in the world but the truest heartbreak is in seeing and experiencing believers pitted against, or simply not loving, their fellow believers. My soul is filled with anguish and with sorrow – a sadness that is wearing on my mind and heart and causes me to seek You even more! To seek and to know Your guidance, comfort, and peace, Your strength, mercy, and grace – not only from You to me but from me toward others; and yes, Father, forgiveness toward others even as You have forgiven me. I also seek your healing Father – both of Your people’s hearts and minds and of my own weary and downcast soul. Hear my prayer Father – hear my prayer in Jesus’ name.

And Your Spirit replies …

Why are you discouraged? Why is your heart so sad? Put your hope in God! Praise Him again—your Savior and your God!

Psalm 42:5