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"The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah (Hezekiah), in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah."
(Zephaniah 1:1 KJV) Zephaniah was a minor prophet of Our Awesome God only because he didn't write 50 chapters like the Major Prophets did. There are 12 Minor Prophets in the Old Testament of our Bibles, but there’s nothing minor about Zephaniah or what he has to say. This man, used by Our Awesome God, helped reform and a revival to sweep the nation of Israel at the time of King Josiah's reign (640-609 BC, see 2 Chronicles 34). Zephaniah was a great grandson of Hezekiah, making him part of the royal family and a third cousin to King Josiah. Everyone was sure that, with a good king such as Josiah on the throne, Our Awesome God would forgive them. But Zephaniah stood up and said, "NO! Judgment will happen and cannot be stopped. God's judgment is coming, it will be swift, it will be complete, it will be for all. And there is nothing that can be done to prevent it." He preached this before Judah was taken into captivity, but very few paid any attention to him! Verse 2 of Zephaniah 1 says, "I will utterly consume everything from the face of the land" says the Lord."' You cannot get more complete than that. All will be judged, everything and all will be consumed. Read all of the Book of Zephaniah. The judgment is on God's chosen people, on the kings, rulers, the religions, the indifferent, the lazy, the complacent, EVERYTHING will be judged by Jesus Christ, Our Awesome God's chosen judge. Zephaniah's message was to the Jews in the kingdom of Judah and was fulfilled in the Babylonian captivity. Their hope was in God's promise of repatriation in the next generation. But hope for our people today is found in Jesus Christ and our belief and obedience to His commandments. Hope for our world is not in stopping judgment. Judgment is coming. What we need to do is seek refuge in Our Awesome God's Son, Jesus Christ. Read Zephaniah 1:7-8, 14-15. Our Awesome God has decided to take all things through judgment to salvation. Seek refuge and shelter in Jesus Christ, for He will be pleased to hide another. Repent! Who do you know who needs to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified? Tell them about our Lord and bring them to our church or attend a church that preaches and teaches that Jesus Christ died for you, taking your sins upon Himself and arose the third day to sit by God, interceding for you when you sin. LWBC is a Bible believing church. Join us this Sunday as we start with small groups at 9:30 AM and Praise/Worship Service at 10:30 AM. On Sunday evening at 6:00 PM, a Bible Study meets along with AWANA for children until 7:30 PM. On Wednesdays, we meet at 7:00 PM for Prayer Requests and Bible Study along with a separate Spanish Bible Study until 8:00 PM. We love visitors!
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"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law... Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."
(Romans 13:8, 10 KJV) The apostle Paul wrote the Book of Romans and, in the 13th chapter, he wrote about love and a person's need to give everyone their due but especially our need to love our neighbors. In verse 13:8, he teaches us that our highest obligation toward men is our obligation to love them. There are other obligations which we will always have toward men, but these obligations are to be of less importance than our obligation of love. Paul doesn’t exclude those other obligations, but rather makes them less important than our highest obligation. In fact, if we fully and biblically love others, all other personal obligations will be met automatically. Loving Our Awesome God is our first level of priority. Loving others is second and all other obligations (in their own levels of priority) are subordinate. Let's summarize the implications of this truth for just a moment. Our obligation to government is subordinate to our obligation to love others. But when we love others, we fulfill the law (Galatians 5:23). But if the government orders us to do to others that which is contrary to love, we would have to disobey the government. An example would be: a WWII German citizen who was ordered to betray known Jews so that they could be exterminated would have had difficulty doing so in a way that could be viewed as loving his neighbor. Romans 13:8-10 of Our Awesome God's Bible not only gives our obligation to love others a higher priority than our other obligations (such as to obey government and its laws), but it explains why this can be true: When we love others, we fulfill God's law. Fulfilling our higher duty assures that we will obey our other duties as citizens of a country as well as citizens of heaven. Loving Our Awesome God will not hinder us from loving others, and loving others will not keep us from our obligation to obey the law. It should just expand our ability to love. So love Him, and learn as much as possible about this God that loves you and wants you to know His kingdom and His expectations. Read His Book, the Holy Bible, and pray to Him. This love from everyone decreases wars! Learn more about Our Awesome God by reading His Holy Bible, praying to Him and worshipping in a church which preaches and teaches the Holy Bible. Join us at Living Word Baptist Church as we pray and worship Him this Sunday at 9:30 AM for Bible Study and 10:30 AM for worship Service. Sunday evening at 6:00 PM there is a Bible Study along with a children's program called AWANA which goes until 7:30 PM. On Wednesdays, we meet at 7:00 PM for Prayer Requests and Bible Study along with a separate Spanish Bible Study until 8:00 PM. We love visitors. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."
(Romans 8:14-15 KJV) When we are adopted into the family of Our Awesome God, we have certain responsibilities that are a must in order to feel comfortable and be accepted as the King's child. They include, at least, the following: 1) The children of the King strive to live by the Words found in His Holy Bible (Luke 4:4). 2) The children of the King are led by the Holy Spirit and God's Bible (Romans 8:14). 3) The children of the King have access to God through prayers (Matthew 21:22). 4) The children of the King are adopted sons and heirs to God's kingdom (Romans 8:17). When we are children of the King, we should act as such, think as Christians should and live as Our Awesome God would want us to live. Are you living like you belong to Jesus? I hope so. Are you passionate about what He is passionate about? Your life should be going the way our Lord would want it to. Is His purpose your purpose, are you letting Him lead your life? Prayer should be at least three times a day, but to be really involved with Our Awesome God you need to talk to Him and get to know Him well. He is your Father, your King! We, as "heirs" and "adopted sons," need to know Him and His kingdom well. You can't direct others as Our Awesome God would want if you don't know what He wants and what His purpose is and you will eventually direct a part of His kingdom in some manner, if you are a Christian. So learn all you can about Him. He has a purpose for your life on earth and part of it is to learn all about Him and His ways so that you can help Jesus Christ for all eternity. Praise the Lord, there is always something new to learn and do. Our church is a loving church that wants to help others to a better understanding of Our Awesome God and His love, mercy and grace for all of mankind. Join us at Living Word Baptist Church as we love others while preaching and teaching from the Holy Bible about God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Our church has a Bible Study at 9:30 AM on Sunday and a Worship Service at 10:30 AM. Then from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM there is another Bible Study along with a children's program called AWANA which goes until 7:30 PM (September through May). On Wednesdays, we meet at 7:00 PM for Prayer Requests and Bible Study along with a separate Spanish Bible Study until 8:00 PM. We love visitors! "And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."
(Genesis 11:3-4 KJV) The archeological finds of the Near East tell a story of man's slow advancement in knowledge as Our Awesome God met their needs, one at a time. As the need for something became apparent, God's helping Hand allowed man to look for and find an answer. God was there to help man when the need was great but we have no idea of how long it took to discover each step toward the creation of something new. Archeology continues to make discoveries of different objects that man invented or improved on with God's helping Hand. The Cradle of Civilization was in Mesopotamia where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers water a very fertile valley that attracted people to congregate before there were cities. These people slowly grouped together over time to protect their possessions and their lives from other smaller bands of people. Cities were formed along the fertile river banks and were fortified. Traders came with goods from other places to water and feed their livestock near these rivers. They traded with the people in these cities such as Ararat and Babylon. The Babylonians liked trading so they increased the wheat, flax, fruit and vegetables they grew so they could sell the extra to each other and to the traders. Soon they needed larger buildings to store the produce so they invented bricks, buildings and wheels. The Babylonians invented an irrigation system for those crops that grew a long way away from the river. Our Awesome God created all the plants and animals, then man and his brain and monitored his progress through the ages, helping him to invent. The Hand of God has always been and always will be on man, helping him with all things that keep him living. Man needs to put his pride aside and realize he can do nothing without God. We all need to realize that Our Awesome God created this complete world which includes our minds and give Him the glory for His inventions and ideas. We invite you to our church services on Sunday morning, Bible Study (9:30 AM) and Worship Service (10:30 AM). Then again Sunday evening (6:00 PM) for Bible Study along with AWANA for children which goes until 7:30 PM. Wednesday evening (7:00 PM) there is Prayer Meeting and Bible Study along with a separate Spanish Bible Study until 8:00 PM. When you come, ask about the choir and Prayer Team. We love visitors and would enjoy meeting you and telling you about Our Awesome God! "Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Zibiah of Beer–sheba. And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest."
(2 Chronicles 24:1-2 KJV) The above Scripture from Our Awesome God's Holy Bible needs to be read carefully noticing, "all the days of Jehoiada the priest." King Joash, like many of us, was strong when there was someone strong to back him up but lost his way or stumbled without that person. Joash was the son and lawful successor of King Ahaziah Of Judah. While only an infant, he was saved by his aunt, Jehosheba, who was married to the high priest, Jehoiada. The slaughter of the king's son's was carried out by Queen Athaliah, who seized the throne of Judah for herself after her son, the king, had died. (Read 2 Chronicles 22:10-24: 27). The high priest Jehoiada led the army that restored the rightful king Joash to the throne. Then Jehoiada stood behind Joash as he restored Judah to the worship of Our Awesome God and restored the House of the Lord. He led the people to worship God in the restored Temple. When the high priest Jehoiada died, Joash quickly showed where his strength had been. When Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the high priest (who would have been like a brother to Joash because they grew up in the Temple together) rebuked the king for his idolatry, "Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son..." (2 Chronicles 24:22). Joash sealed his own doom, first by his leading the nation into idolatry, but moreover by murdering the son of the high priest (2 Chronicles 24:25). The Lord then permitted Judah's enemies to become strong and destroy the kingdom. Our Awesome God had allowed Joash to have an opportunity to change and again do "that which was right in the sight of the Lord" but he never did. God wants you to turn back to Him if you have strayed as Joash did. Pray to our Lord and seek Him! LWBC is a Bible believing church that tries to live Jesus Christ's commandment to "love one another as I have loved you." (John 15:12 KJV) Join us this Sunday as we learn more about Our Awesome God and how to teach others from His Holy Bible. Our church starts with small groups on Sunday at 9:30 AM and the Worship Service at 10:30 AM. On Sunday evening at 6:00 PM, a Bible Study meets along with AWANA for children, which goes until 7:30 PM (September through May). On Wednesdays, we meet at 7:00 PM for Prayer Requests and Bible Study along with a separate Spanish Bible Study until 8:00 PM. We love visitors! "I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord : yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness."
(Malachi 1:2-3 KJV) Malachi, Our Awesome God's prophet, prophesied about 450 BC in Israel. He was one of the last inspired prophets before the 400 year lull in divine revelation between the Old Testament and Jesus Christ. The Israelites had returned from the Babylonian exile. Jerusalem had been rebuilt, and the temple restored. But the people had not learned their lesson from the exile. They avoided idols but they had grown skeptical of God's love (1:2), careless in worship (1:7), indifferent to the truth (2:6–7), faithless in their marriages (2:15; 3:5), and stingy in their offerings (3:8). To this carnal and rebellious people God sent his messenger, Malachi, and the first message he put on his lips was, "I have loved you, says the Lord!" Why would Our Awesome God send this message? God had chosen Jacob, a younger brother, over the elder brother (Esau), who should have inherited and Jacob had been deceitful to get the full blessing. Yet God knows everything from the beginning to the end and God chose Jacob for His Own. We only know "...yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau,..." The full truth we will learn in heaven, but we need to consider our society which shows faithless marriages, carelessness in worship and indifference to the truth of there being Our Awesome God who loves us. Or does that love from God make you tremble? Isaiah 66:2 says, "...to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." Have you learned the love of God in a way that makes you tremble? Malachi's burden in his book is to show us a God whose goodness makes us tremble with reverent fear. It should humble us. It should make us tremble! "A love that makes you tremble" is possibly the reason Our Awesome God chose you to become a Christian and love Him. Join us in church this coming Sunday. God is waiting for you! He Loves You! LWBC is a Bible believing church that tries to live Jesus Christ's commandment to "love one another as I have loved you." (John 15:12 KJV) Join us for church this coming Sunday at 9:30 AM for Bible Study. We have Worship Service in the Sanctuary at 10:30 AM and Sunday evening Bible Study at 6:00 PM along with AWANA for children until 7:30 PM (September through May). On Wednesdays, we meet at 7:00 PM for Prayer Requests and Bible Study along with a separate Spanish Bible Study until 8:00 PM. We love visitors! "But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord : thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard."
(Leviticus 25:4 KJV) Our Awesome God set up a beautiful way for the land to rest, for Hebrew slaves to be set free (Deuteronomy 15:12-18), for debts to be canceled (Deuteronomy 15:1-11) and just for people to take a look at what they had done the last 6 years as they rested. This was a sabbatical seventh year that they could put changes in order for the next 6 years. This rest also increased the fertility of the land. But did they use that seventh year as the Lord had commanded? It probably was forgotten, as some of their other good intentions. When we look at our busy life with something to do every minute, we realize we could use a seventh year to rest and take a look at what we have done the last 6 years. There are demands of family, church and work that might need a change. Think about that 7th year to rest and prayerfully refocus our lives to increase Our Awesome God's glory. What changes could we make to improve the next 6 years? Can we do it with God's help in a year? Couldn't we find time, even a week, to rest and look at changes that we should make to be more productive for our Lord? Our Awesome God wants you to rest and reevaluate what you have done and what you should change to make it better. This rest and prayer makes you realize the good things you have done with God's help, as well as how to change others and make them better. Our God is good! Our Awesome God wants you look back over the past 6 years, rest (even for a week) and with His help, see what changes need to be made in your life. Praise the Lord! We (as a church) want all people in church, worshipping Our Awesome God with faith and obedience every Sunday. If you are not yet a Christian, it is time that you should know and love Our Awesome God as your Creator and Savior. Join us at Living Word Baptist Church as we have Bible Study at 9:30 AM and praise and worship Him this Sunday at 10:30 AM and at 6:00 to 7:00 PM for Bible Study along with AWANA for children until 7:30 PM (September through May). On Wednesdays, we meet at 7:00 PM for Prayer Requests and a Bible Study along with a separate Spanish Bible Study until 8:00 PM. We love visitors! |
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December 2016
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