It's His Story: Recent Episodes
Barbara Culver
God has the right to judge everything and everyone because He created all things. But after He resurrected Jesus from the grave He gave Him authority over everything and everyone. He also gave Him the right to Judge when He returns to earth. Do you believe in Jesus? Repent and be changed continually!
We do not battle with flesh and blood but with the evil cosmic powers. Satan does all he can do to keep us from the thing God has called us to.
The days leading to the cross were a great time of teaching form Jesus. He spent His last few days knowing He would suffer more than we can imagine.
Habakkuk is a minor prophet that questioned God about how the Israelite nation would be disciplined through the Babylonians. He begins chpt. 1 complaining to God and telling Him he is just going to sit and wait for Him to answer.
Chpt. 2 begins with God answering Habakkuk.
We don't think about faith coming in different types, but Jesus says there are different kinds of faith. How we use them is important to our growth in Christ.
A lot of people do not believe in tithing because it is OT. But Paul writes we are to
give as God has blessed us and with a willing heart and be cheerful about giving.
When we give we will receive an abundance from heaven.
Philippians 4:13 is for spiritual things but it also is for earthly things if you
are doing them from the perspective of being for Christ and not you.
Marriage is hard for anyone, especially a girl of 18 and a man of 20. Neither
knew anything about life or marriage. BUT GOD knows all about both. It is
His Grace, Mercy and Love that has saved our marriage and taught us about
life together.
Jesus wants to be your life. He died so you can experience Him in your everyday living.
You were born physically. Have you been born again spirituality?
He is calling to you "Come to Me, just come to Me."
Mordecai told the Queen that Haman had convinced the king to issue and edict that
people were to bow down to him because he had been promoted. Mordecai wasn't going
to bow to anyone except the One True God. Haman wanted to get rid of Mordecai, but
he went further and decided to kill all the Jews. The only one that could save the Jewish
people that decided to stay in Persia was the Queen. Today how will you choose to datand
for your faith in Christ. We have been chosen for such a time as this.
The King issued and order for all the servants to bow down to Haman. But Mordecai refused to bow to anyone but God.
Do you follow what others do in this world just to feel included? Jesus was not a crowd pleaser and we are not to be either. Mordecai
chose to be different and we are to make that choice also.
Esther was a beautiful, young Jewish girl that lived in a pagan nation.
There was no way a Jewish girl would ever be Persia's queen, BUT GOD
allowed life to happen and she found herself the queen. God would use
life to protect His people. He does that for you today.
Even though God's name is not mentioned in Esther, we see His faithfulness to keep His covenant that
He made with Abraham. God directs all lives, including those who do not believe Him. Satan is always ready to try to keep God's plan to be carried out, But, he never wins because God is ALWAYS in charge of life for all.
The book of Esther in the OT has many examples of imperfect people being faithful to God
in the midst of pagan people.
Life brings many storms to us, but IF we will wait upon Jesus and
and trust His Words, we can be renewed in our strength and our
hope and faith will grow.
Have you ever been mentored by someone? Have you ever been a mentor
to someone? The Bible is full of stories about people mentoring others.
Let's talk mentoring today.
Memorial Day is when we remember all those people who have
fought in wars to make this nation free as God intended. But, Jesus
paid an even greater price for you to be free from having to sin, free
from the guilt of sin and free to worship Him because of that freedom.
Jesus wants a personal relationship with you and He wants your
words to be words of truth and goodness. David knew the importance
of his words and he desired to please God with them. We need to
desire the same thing.
You want to be happy and content in this world. Then Psalm 1
is for you. It teaches us the best way to live and that is with God
Jesus and Holy Spirit.
Partiality is as mch of living today as it was in the days Jesus
walked the earth. James teaches us we are not to show partiality
to any person. We are to simply show Jesus' light in us to all people.
We all face trials in life, but we all have temptations in our lives too.
What we do with each one will teach us something about our weakness,
and God's power to help us to endure and overcome them.
Knowledge = information. It takes wisdom to take His information
to carry out living the Christian life. You must ASK to receive.
We all have trials of various kinds at some point in life.
How we look at our trials and how we deal with them matters
to Jesus and to our joy in living.
The third day Jesus came out of the grave to live forever. What does
that mean for you and me?
Some say there is no where in the Bible that gives us a prayer to say
when we surrender to Christ. The thief confessed he was guilty and He
knew only Jesus could save him.
One thief refused to believe while the other thief saw himself as condemned
and that only Jesus could be His Savior. Which thief are you today?
The first thing we need to learn is to put one foot in front of
the other and keep moving in faith. Holy Spirit will lead us in
every step and we can see despite not seeing.
Faith to live every day COMES. It does not just happen. It comes by
hearing the same word that you heard through the gospel. It takes you
to teach yourself how to live by faith.
God gives each person the measure of faith to believe in His Son, Jesus. Then He gives us faith for living
by His standards and not ours or the worlds. Have you used your measure of faith to believe?
Storms come in many forms. Some are physical, some emotional, some spiritual.
Do you know Jesus is with you in every storm you experience? He wants to use
storms to help us believe more, to teach us how powerful He is or to help our raith
grow and mature.
There is a heaven, but there is also a hell. It is your choice as being an eternal being
which one you will experience in eternity.
Leviticus is God's Law given to Moses before the Israelites went into the
Promised Land. How does that law have anything to do with your life?
God's Law never changes, it is how He carries it out that changed. Jesus
did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it at the cross.
We can never see God's face in our lives, but He is always present.
Like Moses after He passes by our struggles we can see His glory as
He leads us through the valleys of life.
What is a generational curse? How do I get past it?
God always has a way of escape for us if we choose
His way.
The world may see people as having no value to the living,
BUT GOD has value for every person He has created.
Your name may not be well known in the world, but God knows your name and considers it very important.
Only thing you have God's permission to test Him with is your
tithes and offerings. Have your proved He is faithful to do what
He says or are you robbing God. Malachi 4 and 2 Corinthians 9.
We never think about Jesus disappointing anyone, especially
His best friends. But we read in John 11 that He did. Why? WE
discuss how disappointment has a purpose in our lives.
God wants to do a new thing in your life. Will you perceive it and let Him
make a way where there is no way?
Do you feel, see or hear God's presence each day your live?
You can. I give you ways to look for His presence, to feel Hie
presence and acknowledge His presence. Don't just know
about Jesus, get to know Him in a personal way.
God has an opposite definition peace for you. It is not the absence of conflict or
chaos in life, but a peace in your inner person in the midst of all the confusion and
frustrations of life. His Word is filled with promises about having His peace.
Holy Spirit wants to grow fruit in you. When that fruit begins to grow you change. You
do things, say things and operate life in a different way than you normally would.
Want to do the will of God? Rejoice, pray without ceasing, and give THANKS IN all circumstances.
To obey His will says, "I love you, Jesus!"
Jesus wants to develop His fruit in you. It is a fruit that will sow
the world that you have a relationship with Him and the Holy
Spirit is working IN you.
Do you have questions about life? God has all the answers you are seeking for life.
He waits for you to cry out to Him and He will answer. Open your Bible and begin
to read and He will give you those answers.
How are you at gathering with God's family?
How are you at listening to the Word? Do you
hunger for it and listen attentively and learn from
what you hear?
The OT is given to teach us about life, relationships and God, himself.
Jonah teaches us lessons about how we should live today with Christ
in our lives.
Jesus extends His teaching about forgiveness and how
God makes it such a priority in a Christian's life.
We began this prayer with praise and are ending it
acknowledging Him once again in our lives.
In the closing woefs of the Lord's Prayer we learn that temptation
comes in many forms BUT GOD has it all under His contol.
We learn from Jesus' teaching that it is God that will supply not only our daily food but
all of our daily needs as well. We also learn how forgiveness will liberate us from a broken
relationship with Christ and the Holy Spirit and set us free from anger and bitterness wich
will destroy us.
In the model prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray for
the kingdom of God to be in their everyday life. It takes
commitment to Jesus to let Him change you that will
bring that about.
The disciples asked Jesus to teach them only one thing: How to pray.
Matthew records that teaching. We will take it apart and discuss how
it is to be in our lives daily.
When do you Pray? Once a day, once a week or just when you think about it/
God wants to hear about your life and He does that when we pray. We have the
freedom to pray any time, night or day.
Prayer is important to God and valuable for the Christian life. I am beginning a series
to share with you about praying To God is important.
Confession of our sins to God brings forgiveness.
Confession of our sins to each other brings healing.
We all experience stress in our lives. How we learn to handle it matters to Jesus.
Paul gives us a fool proof formula to how to live with less stress and enjoy the
blessings God has for us. Open your Bible to Philippians 4 and read with me.
Trusting God is a choice we must make. He will never force you to trust Him but
He has given us all we need to trust Him in His Word (the Bible. Get to know Him
by reading about Him in the Bible.
Grief is a valley we all have to WALK through, but God does not
want us to take up residence there. The Bible teaches us a lesson
on grieving and how it affects those around us that want to be loved
and cared for by us.
We can gauge our daily living by the fleshly desires that
Paul gives to us in Galatians 5. Notice that there are many
fleshly desires but the Fruit of the Spirt is singular. One Spirt
that gives good fruit.
God has given us a nation that was built on scriptural laws. But for believers He has
given freedom a new perspective, for whom the Son sets free is free indeed.
Jesus gave you His Holy Spirit to be your helper, comforter, strength and leader.
He leaves it up to you to "Activate" Him. Make Him a part of everyday living.
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We cam do nothing that Jesus wants us to do without the Holy Spirit's help.
He leads and empowers us along life's way to do life God's way.
Jesus does not want us to be without help living on this earth, So He gives us His Holy Spirit to help with
even just everyday living. Ask Him for His Help.
Holy Spirit wants to fill every believer every day to deal with life.
What does He fill us with? Listen and learn.
The Holy Spirit has been given to every believer to empower us to do many things.
It is our responsibility to give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to show us how He
will DO what Jesus wants done in our lives.
When you surrendered to the call of the Holy Spirit to received Jesus' gift of salvation, He gives yopu His Holy Spirit to live in you.
It is up to you how active He will be in your life.
We have all kinds of friends in our lives. But then sometimes we have very, very special friends. That bond can not be broken by separation
of any kind, even death.
Jesus left earth and returned to heaven, but He did not leave the disciples or you without help. He gives you the Holy Spirit, not to just be upon you, but to LIVE IN you. What are you doing with Him?
Jesus makes Peter face his failure of denying Him 3 times. He does't condemn him for it,
but challenges him with his love for Jesus because of it.
One thief was so hard hearted, never seeing a need for God in his life, that the Holy Spirit had quit dealing with his heart.
The other thief saw himself as getting what he deserved because of his lifestyle. He ended up walking into heaven's gate saved
by the grace of God and the blood of Jesus.
Death could not keep Je sus in the tomb. The power of the Holy Spirit raised Him from the dead.
Others had ome back fro the dead, but Jesus came with a new body and you can do the same.
We see the cross as being the physical suffering of Jesus. But he was a spirit that had a soul
that lived in a body.
The Bible is filled with we are to love. But in John 13 Jesus teaches a new kind of love. Love for His family of followers.
He teaches there is love for all people. There is a new fove we are to give to His family. We get that love by obedience to His
commands and then by abiding in His love.
There are promises all through the Bible that God gives to us to have while we walk
on His earth. You will have them become real for you when you read His Story.
How does this account have anything to do with our life? Jesus teaches them to be humble. He wants us to live that way too.
He teaches about salvation being a one time act, but that we need daily cleansing because we still have our flesh and the dinful world to deal with.
A woman caught in adultry was brought to Jesus for Him to pass sentencing upon her, but Jesus quickly turned the tables upon the Pharisees and told them that if they hsd no sin to be the first to cast a stone. God must condemn SIN but He never condemns YOU!!
Jesus lived under God's order of life and His timing for things to happen in life. You want to live in His will, then live by doing the things you know is His Will. Then in His time, He will show you His will in other areas of your life.
A young boy had 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish . Jesus took them and after having them blessed the disciples distributed them
to the people. They fed 5,00 people and there was 12 baskets left over.
What in your life do you make excuses for to not quit what you are or what you are doing?
What does it mean in your life to hear Jesus say, "I Am"? Each statement He makes should inspire you to be what He wants and to do the things He desires for you to live a true happy life on this earth.
The woman at the well had no idea she was about to be changed by a conversation with the Messiah. He knew her past. He felt her pain, but He knew she had purpose in life. So do you/.
God hates pride among His people. His judgment upon Edom was due to their pride in saying they were untouchable by other nations because of their position on the mountain and the fact that no one could get to them. God lets them know He wiould bing them down to the ground. Edom was destroyed and never again existed.
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Israelite nation, comes to Jesus seeking for answers to who He really was. Jesus answers his question by telling him that he must be "born again". That means to be born of the spirit world while we are in the physical world in order to enter the kingdom of God
There are lessons in this miracle for us to take into our everyday living so that we can withness the glory of Jesus in our lives. He wants to be very personal with everything we do inlife. But there are things He expects from us in order for His miracle to become real.
Every day is a new day with Jesus. He wants to do new things in us and for us. He wants to share with us who He is, what He does and what He has ahaead of us. He is NEW for the unbleirver. He wants to make you a NEW ctreature that will listen to His voice and obey His commands. Will you let Him do something NEW in you this New Year?
Are you going to just wrap Jesus up and hide Him in a box till next Christmas? Will you let Him be your life everyday and let Him use you to show others the way to true living?
Every story in the Bible teaches us something aobut how to live or how to treat others and the importance of DOING what Jesus has commanded us to do.
Jesus chooses to be baptized to show his identity with sinful man. We show the world Jesus is our Messiah when we accept His gift and choose to be baptizied.
John the Baptist was telling the people that they must get ready for Jesus, the Messiah.
What God had promised, He suddenly brought about for man to have a personal relationship with Him.
His name is JESUS!
The Old Testament tells us Jesus is coming, New Testament Jesus came and epistles Jesus is coming back.