Mostrando resultados por autor "Rick Noyes" en Todas las categorías

Have you ever had life turn out differently than you expected? You may have imagined something entirely different only to find reality little reflects what you had hoped. When that happens, then the questions that need answers are, what now, where do I go from here? What can help me make sense of it all? If that has ever been your lot in life, than know that you are not alone. History is full of similar failed expectations and one such instance is found in the last books of the Old Testament after the people of God returned to the land of promise, only to find life did not measure up to ...

The unsettling events of 2020 are mind boggling and can easily cause a person to wonder just what happened. As if the world was not already confusing and complicated enough, having the events of the past year crashing into our reality has left many people trying to make sense of a world that doesn’t make sense. Are you trying to figure out what is the point of it all? Finding meaning in life seems to be impossible, but there is nothing new under the sun and Solomon has some words of hope for us to consider. The book of Ecclesiastes is a must for anyone asking, why am I here? What is the ...

Every day, we all make dozens of choices that are generally directed by our own gratification and rarely do we think twice about them. However, not all the choices that we make are trivial or lost in the memory of the past. Some choices we make effect not only us but other people as well. It is those choices that really matter in life, because they are not forgotten. They shape our past, our present and our future. Those kinds of choices are what this study in God’s Word is about, when the choices in life really matter. If you decide to do this study, you will find it is one choice in ...

The gospel of Mark is written like a no-frills travel log of a mountain climbing expedition, pressing on toward the summit of faith in Messiah. This gospel is also written for the skeptic, because it focuses on just the facts to challenge our thinking concerning God’s Messiah. This is a reason I find this gospel intriguing. It is the analytical approach it uses to present the Messiah in a bare bones approach of cultivating faith for any skeptic.

Do you ever feel like you are failing at the most important things in life? Do you long for more in the church today? What can one individual do to really make a difference in what seems to be lacking in the life of the church today? What is it that sets our purpose and plan? What can make the depth of our relationships to be more satisfying, then the friendly we are left with today? I think all of those questions and more can be answered when we begin to look at our own devotion to the God who calls us. This little book explores what is a single-minded devotion and why it is important for ...

I think there is a resistance within me when it comes to giving God my all, even when I know that is the right thing to do. Since the error of my way is comfortable and familiar, even when God’s blessing is withheld, I want to pretend it is for reasons other than me. In order to break this same type of resistance by the nation Israel, God uses two men to speak to the nation on His behalf. They were the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. I wonder if these two prophets can’t light our own path back to where God wants us to be in life, to understand what He wants us to do here and now. If you ...

Do you know why we see so little change in our world today? Do you know why the best of solutions are doomed to fail? Do you wonder why everything seems to be coming apart at the seams at every level of society? In the orchestration of God’s sovereignty, He is tearing it all down, because most people even those who profess Jesus as Lord, are chasing after their own plans and purpose, not that of God who calls us. That is why our personal lives are disasters, our nation is a train wreck, and the world has gone to hell in a handbasket. It is all orchestrated by God hoping to awaken us to ...

The church is called to live for the will of God, but in reality I think that very few people know God’s will, let alone live for it. Do you want to own God’s will as your own? Then do something about it. Become a faithful student of God’s Word, in the classroom of the Spirit of God by joining with me in this study of the book of Ezra and His will can become your own.

In many ways, the story of Job is the story of every person, because no matter who we are, at some time in life, we all suffer. The only thing that separates us is the degree of our suffering. In discussing the subject of suffering with a friend of mine, he said that for most people life’s flow is a constant series of struggles, punctuated by times of peace. I believe everyone, everywhere, at differing times of life, comes face-to-face with their own suffering. If you are not suffering now, you certainly will at some point in life, wouldn’t you like to be prepared? If your answer is yes...

Do you think the American church today is flourishing or is something else happening? Before you answer that question, I suggest that you do as I did and ask the people you know in and out of the church their assessment of the church today. If you do, I think you might find your view of reality challenged as did I. This little book is meant to challenge your thinking and awaken you to the problems that go unseen or unaddressed today in Christian circles. I think you will find it thought provoking at the least.

How would you answer that question? Whether you disagree or not is of no consequence. What is consequential is how God answers that question, because He will stop at nothing to bring His people back to a proper devotion. Should you find that thought unsettling, then may I suggest this is a book you need to read.

Have you ever had an epiphany? I don’t mean a moment of clarity or a good idea, but have you ever had a God-given insight into something you did not know before? That is what this book is about, when God opened my eyes to see and mind to understand. We never know, what we do not know, when we do not know it. But what if we could? Would you be interested? Then this book is for you.

Do you ever wonder what you will be remembered for when you are gone? Will you leave any mark on the future that says, I was here, and that I mattered? I guess because I have rounded third base and am heading for home plate at age 71, those questions have more relevance for me than maybe they do for you. However, one day they will for you as well. Therefore, I want you to know, leaving a lasting legacy should begin today while you are still here, because none of us has a guarantee on tomorrow.

The book of Jeremiah was written in a time when God’s people had abandoned their God for their own plan and purpose. That happened while the religious traditions of worship were still happening in Jerusalem. It was time similar to that of our own, when the nation and even the church pays lip service to God, but hearts are far from Him. This ancient prophecy is road sign for us today point the direction back to God for both the nation and the church. I hope you will join me in this Bible study, which speaks to the time when no one will listen.

Are you like me in finding it difficult to love people the way God does? Why do you think that is more of chore than a delight? Could it be that today we have missed what it means to love like God? Would you like to how to do just that? If so, then this book might be just the thing for you to discover just why if is so important that we learn to love like God.

Now I want you to know that like a baby born into God’s family, I was not born knowing much and I made some mistakes. In my early years of being called by God, like a baby, most of what I was learning about God and His word came from experiencing it as the Spirit of God taught me. This idea of experiencing God and His Word makes me wonder if that isn’t why people are drawn to reading the Psalms, because they reveal what it was for someone else to experience God. Phrases like taste and see the Lord is good and His Word is sweeter than the honeycomb are conveying the experiencing of God ...

In some ways I wished the Spirit of God had never awakened me to this reality I see, because I was quite comfortable with the familiar of the institutional church routine, even if that was preventing me from making much headway spiritually. The adage that ignorance is bliss was where I was at, but the God who called me was not going to let me linger in that bliss of ignorance any longer and sorry to say He had to disrupt the world with a pandemic to move me from where I was entrenched to eyes wide open.

Have you ever known the desire to escape? Maybe you wanted to escape a difficult relationship, a dead-end job, a location that you found sucking the life out you, or perhaps your need to escape was simply to be doing something more fulfilling. If any of that resonates with you, then you will appreciate my story for escape from the institutional church. I thought is was me that broken, when all along it was the zoo that we call the church that left me out of sync with the Lord of the church and longing for more.

There are five post-exile books that are interwoven with Nehemiah’s narrative that help give us a clearer picture of this part of Israel’s history. They are Haggai, Zechariah, Esther, Ezra and Malachi. Nehemiah seems to be written like a diary of what happened in regard to the work that God had laid on his heart and therefore it is a very personal account. The theme of this study is going to be when we work together, but it is much more. The book of Nehemiah is meant to cause an unrest within us because we settle for what is, rather than what could be. It is meant to shame us for ...

This study guide is going to emphasize a method for developing your abilities to do your own inductive Bible study. My desire is not so much to instruct concerning the letter to the Ephesians, although you will get that as I share my discoveries with you from doing the study together, but to teach you how to learn on your own from the Bible without having to be taught from anyone but the Spirit of God, who will lead you into all truth (John 16:13).